The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Shell Alaska oil rig refloated, towing to begin
- South Korea to expand nuclear energy despite growing safety fears
- Stricken Alaska oil rig refloated, towed to safe harbour
| Shell Alaska oil rig refloated, towing to begin Posted: 07 Jan 2013 08:20 PM PST ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A recovery team has refloated a Shell that grounded last week near an Alaska island and stood ready to start towing it on Monday, weather permitting.
A tow line was attached to the Kulluk drillship on Sunday at about 4 p.m. (0100 GMT) and all elements were in place for towing operations to proceed on Monday, a statement from the joint command centre for the Kulluk responders said. Yet weather in the area remains a challenge, with the National Weather Service issuing a weather warning through Sunday night and forecasting rain, snow and winds of between 15 and 30 miles an hour. The fortunes of the Kulluk, which started drilling a well in the Beaufort Sea late last year, face particular scrutiny because it was a key part of Shell's controversial and error-prone 2012 Arctic drilling program. The U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Dutch Shell Plc hope the rig can be towed from its grounding site on the coast of tiny Sitkalidak Island to a sheltered bay nearby, so experts can make a better assessment of its sea worthiness. Sean Churchfield, Shell's Alaska ventures manager, has said salvage teams found no signs of breaches to any of the Kulluk's fuel tanks and only one area where seawater leaked onboard. The tow plan has been approved by government regulators. Coast Guard Captain Paul Mehler had said the right combination of tides and weather, as well as the arrival of certain equipment, was required to begin towing. The Kulluk went aground in a storm on December 31 after the ship towing it lost power and its tow connection in the Kodiak archipelago, far from where it began its well in September and October. The rig had been headed for winter maintenance near Seattle. REMOVAL PLAN The removal plan is to pull the Kulluk about 30 miles to Kiliuda Bay, a site previously designated as a refuge for disabled vessels. Whether it continues on for its maintenance work will be determined after the assessment, Churchfield said. The rig has about 155,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products aboard, none of which have spilled, state environmental regulators said. The Aiviq, the vessel that lost power and its tow connection to the Kulluk a week ago, is the ship designated to tow it to safe refuge. An investigation into its failures is not yet complete, Churchfield said. Alaska environmentalist Rick Steiner questioned Shell's reliance on the Aiviq and said he believed the problems with the Kulluk and its other contracted drillship, the Noble Corp -owned Discoverer, would preclude any drilling this year. "The 2013 season is on the rocks in Kodiak with the Kulluk," he said. Shell officials in Alaska have so far declined to comment on the upcoming Arctic drilling season. Prior to the Kulluk accident, Shell's main problem in Alaska was the Discoverer, which had been assigned to Chukchi Sea work but failed to meet federal air standards, prompting Shell in June to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit with looser limits for air pollution. In September, the ship dragged its anchor in the Aleutian port of Dutch Harbour and nearly grounded on the beach there. After completing a truncated 2012 drill season in the Chukchi, the Discoverer was temporarily detained by the Coast Guard in the port of Seward, Alaska. The Coast Guard cited numerous safety and environmental-systems deficiencies, which Shell and Noble vowed to fix before the summer season began. (Additional reporting by Sarah Young in London; Editing by Braden Reddall and David Holmes) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| South Korea to expand nuclear energy despite growing safety fears Posted: 07 Jan 2013 07:37 PM PST SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea has no option but to expand its nuclear power plant programme despite growing public concern over safety in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster in 2011 and a series of scares that closed two reactors last year. The proportion of South Koreans who considered nuclear power safe fell to 34.8 percent in a survey conducted in November and published on Tuesday, down from 40 percent in April 2011 and 71 percent in January 2010, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said. The ministry has been sharply criticised for its role as regulator and operator of the country's nuclear power plants, and one of its subsidiaries was accused of suppressing negative public opinion after the Fukushima disaster by not publishing polls. A fake parts scandal closed two reactors last year and the industry suppressed details of the closure of the Kori No.1 reactor early in 2012. "It is an urgent priority to recover people's trust and the safety of reactors just as it is unavoidable to maintain nuclear at a certain percentage of the total power supply, considering the power supply and demand situation," the ministry said. The two troubled reactors were fully restarted last week, easing fears over winter power shortages. Three others are offline for maintenance and operational approval, but power supplies remain a concern amid peak winter demand expected until the end of next month. Asia's fourth-largest economy, which depends heavily on oil and gas imports, plans to add 11 reactors by 2024 on top of its existing 23 reactors which supply a third of the country's total power. An earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011 killed nearly 20,000 people and triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years when the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant was destroyed, leaking radiation into the sea and air. (Editing by Nick Macfie) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
| Stricken Alaska oil rig refloated, towed to safe harbour Posted: 07 Jan 2013 07:23 PM PST ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A Shell oil drilling rig that ran aground last week reached a safe harbour on Monday, where it will be examined to assess its seaworthiness.
A rescue team towed the Kulluk drillship 30 miles (48 km) to shelter in Kiliuda Bay, Royal Dutch Shell's emergency response coordinator said. The fortunes of the saucer-shaped Kulluk, which started drilling in the Beaufort Sea late last year, face particular scrutiny because it was a major part of Shell's controversial and error-prone 2012 Arctic drilling program. Last week, stormy weather wrestled the rig from the ships towing it, and tossed it to the shore of Sitkalidak Island. On Sunday night, the rig was refloated. "The tow has gone pretty much as expected," Sean Churchfield, Shell's Alaska ventures manager, said at a Monday news conference in Anchorage. Kiliuda Bay was previously designated a refuge for disabled vessels. Churchfield said it has not yet been determined whether the Kulluk will be fixed there or somewhere else, and whether it will continue on for planned winter maintenance near Seattle. The extent of damage had yet to be determined, although the salvage teams found no signs of breaches to its fuel tanks and only one area where seawater leaked onboard. "We were not able to have that detailed assessment where it was aground," Churchfield said. "It would be speculation to say what's going to happen next because, until we have that damage assessment, we really will not be able to develop that plan." PARTNER IN TOW The Kulluk went aground in a storm on December 31 after the ship towing it, the Aiviq, lost power and its tow connection in the Kodiak archipelago, far from where it began its well in September and October. On Monday, the Aiviq towed it to Kiliuda Bay even though an investigation into its failures is not yet complete. Alaska environmentalist Rick Steiner questioned Shell's reliance on the Aiviq and said he believed the problems with the Kulluk and its other contracted drillship, Noble Corp's Discoverer, would preclude any drilling this year. Shell officials in Alaska have so far declined to comment on the upcoming Arctic drilling season, but the whole response team will for now be relieved to have the Kulluk in safer waters. "I think everybody on site and at the command centre was overjoyed, yelling and screaming and happy," said Steve Russell of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the state's response coordinator. Coast Guard Captain Paul Mehler recognized it as a major milestone, but stressed there was still a lot of work to do. "We are not letting our guard down," he said. Prior to the Kulluk accident, Shell's main problem in Alaska was the Discoverer, which had been assigned to Chukchi Sea work but failed to meet federal air standards, prompting Shell in June to ask the Environmental Protection Agency for a permit with looser limits for air pollution. In September, the ship dragged its anchor in the Aleutian port of Dutch Harbour and nearly grounded on the beach there. After drilling stopped, the Discoverer was cited by the Coast Guard for safety and environmental-systems deficiencies, which Shell and Noble vowed to fix before this summer's season. And another ship deemed necessary for drilling was so beset with problems that it never even made it to Alaska in 2012. The Arctic Challenger, an oil-containment barge built specifically for Shell's Arctic drilling, failed to win Coast Guard approval for seaworthiness in time to allow any drilling to oil-bearing depths. Shell was permitted to drill only "top-hole" wells, to depths of about 1,400 feet (430 meters) below the seafloor surface. As for the Kulluk, as of Sunday more than 630 people were deployed in response, along with a large fleet of vessels and aircraft, according to the incident command team. Shell will be paying for it all, though the cost to date is unknown. (Additional reporting by Sarah Young and Andrew Callus in London; Writing by Braden Reddall; Editing by David Holmes, Louise Heavens and David Gregorio) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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