Royal Dutch Shell’s MV Fennica to return to the West Coast for repairs
The hull of the Fennica suffered a gash in the hull about 3 feet long and a half-inch wide when the vessel struck an uncharted object while leaving Dutch Harbor. The area had not been surveyed since 1935.
The Fennica's primary job for Shell is carrying equipment for stopping an underwater well blowout. The Fennica carries a capping stack, the third line of defense in what Shell says is an unlikely scenario of a RDS. A capping stack is a roughly 30-foot device that can connect to a well head and stop gushing oil. This is the same piece of equipment that failed during the Deep Water Horizon fiasco in the Gulf of Mexico.
RDS spokesman Curtis Smith said, "We do not anticipate any impact to the (drilling) season as we do not require the vessel until August."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday its mapping ship Fairweather had found shallow, rocky areas near where the hull was damaged.
The agency submitted a "Dangers to Navigation Report" to the Coast Guard listing the shoal depths, which are less than 30-feet deep in sections.
RDS is still awaiting final permits to drill from the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.
Additional reading:
Seafloor area where Shell vessel was damaged uncharted since 1935
Shoal discovered in area where Shell ship was gouged
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''RDS is still awaiting final permits to drill from the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.''
I hope that they never get them.
I have to agree Kavika!!
Please let me get this straight. A Royal Dutch ship, leaving Dutch Harbor, right? Dutch Harbor is in Alaska, is it not? (Bombed by the Japanese during WWII...) Has Shell contracted with the Netherlands to provide this service?
I don't trust any of them drilling on the arctic north slope. But, that's me. They have over 1,000 spills per year up there, and no one cleans them up.
Me, too!!!
"They have over 1,000 spills per year up there, and no one cleans them up."
And that is the legacy RDS is bringing to the Chukchi Sea.
Yep. Makes me sick.
That doesn't sound too good at all. Someone should put an article up about that. So much so many of us really don't know.