KULLUK, the Shell drilling barge that ran aground last week, has been towed to safety in Kiliuda Bay, Kodiak Island, IHS World Markets Energy reported today.
It reached the anchorage for disabled vessels about noon Alaskan time yesterday, where inspectors will assess its seaworthiness and what needs urgent repairs, according to a statement from the salvage supervisors.
Kulluk had been wrenched from towing ships in a storm a week ago and tossed on to the shore of Sitkalidak Island, 48km (30 miles) from Kiliuda Bay.
The 27,968gt vessel was refloated on the night of 6 January.
The barge was a major part of Royal Dutch Shell's error-prone 2012 Arctic drilling programme. Shell said it had not yet been determined whether the Kulluk will be fixed in Kiliuda Bay or somewhere else, and whether it could continue on for planned winter maintenance near Seattle, Reuters reported.
The salvage teams had earlier found no signs of breaches to its fuel tanks and only one area where seawater leaked.
"At this stage, it's too early to gauge any impact on our ongoing exploration plans, but with the Kulluk now safely recovered, we'll carry out a detailed assessment of the vessel to understand what those impacts might be," Marvin Odum, president of Shell's US arm, said in a statement.
"While the successful salvage mission in combination with the prevention of any spill is very positive news for Shell, the incident still poses problems for Shell's ambitions to drill boreholes to completion in Alaska's Arctic this year," IHS World Markets Energy pointed out.
"One regulatory permit condition is that Shell must demonstrate the effectiveness of its spill containment system. It is hard to conceive how the company would prove that without putting the system to action in an actual spill," it commented.
"However, the fact that the company lost control over the Kulluk in harsh sub-Arctic weather conditions has environmental groups claiming that Shell is not prepared for the force of nature in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, it added, referring to the targets of its drilling ambitions much farther north.
"Thus, 2013 is likely to see these groups put up a fierce legal battle to keep Shell from drilling there," predicted IHS World Markets Energy. "Much will depend on what repairs need to be done on the Kulluk and whether these can be done in time" for the short summer drilling season.
Source:IHS
