Shell Oil incident commander Susan Childs, second from right, answers a question about the Monday night grounding of the Shell drill ship Kulluk at a press conference at the Mariott Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. Looking on are Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith, left, Coast Guard Commander Shane Montoya, state coordinator Alan Wien, and Garth Pulkkinen of Noble Corp., the operator of the Kulluk.(Photo: Dan Joling, AP)
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC's foray into Arctic
offshore drilling has suffered a serious setback after one of its two
Alaska drilling rigs ran aground in shallow water off a small island.
Officials
at a unified command center run by the Coast Guard, Shell, state
responders and others said the Kulluk grounded Monday night on rocks off
the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, an uninhabited island in the
Gulf of Alaska.
The Kulluk was being towed by a 360-foot anchor
handler, the Aiviq, and a tugboat, the Alert. The vessels were moving
north along Kodiak Island, trying to escape the worst of a North Pacific
storm that included winds near 70 mph and swells to 35 feet. Sitkalidak
is on the southeast side of Kodiak Island.
About 4:15 p.m., the
drill ship separated from the Aiviq about 10 to 15 miles off shore and
grounding was inevitable, Coast Guard Cmdr. Shane Montoya, the acting
federal on-scene coordinator, told reporters.
"Once the Aiviq lost
its tow, we knew the Alert could not manage the Kulluk on its own as
far as towing, and that's when we started planning for the grounding,"
he said.
The command center instructed the nine tug crew members
to guide the drill ship to a place where it would cause the least
environmental damage. The tug cut the unmanned ship loose at 8:15 p.m.
and it grounded at 9 p.m. near the north tip of Ocean Bay on Sitkalidak.
"The Alert was not able to do anything as far as towing the Kulluk but tried to maintain some kind of control," Montoya said.
The
drill ship drafts 35 to 40 feet of water. The Coast Guard planned to
fly out early Tuesday to plan a salvage operation and possible spill
response. It is carrying 150,000 gallons of diesel and about 12,000
gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid, Montoya said.
Susan
Childs, Shell's on-scene coordinator, said it was too early to know how
the vessel would react to the pounding of the storm when it was aground
and stationary.
She was optimistic about its salvage prospects and chances for staying intact.
"The
unique design of the Kulluk means the diesel fuel tanks are isolated in
the center of the vessel and encased in very heavy steel," she said.
"When the weather subsides and it is safe to do so, we will dispatch
crews to the location and begin a complete assessment."
The Kulluk
is designed for extended drilling in Arctic waters and underwent $292
million in technical upgrades since 2006 to prepare for Alaska offshore
exploration. The drill ship worked during the short 2012 open water
season in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast. Its ice-reinforced,
funnel-shape hull can deflect moving ice downward and break it into
pieces.
Attached to a drilling prospect, the Kulluk is designed to
handle waves 18 feet high. When disconnected from a well, it's designed
to handle seas to 40 feet. Garth Pulkkinen of Noble Corp., the operator
of the drill ship, said it was never in danger of capsizing.
The
vessel first separated from a towing vessel Thursday night south of
Kodiak Island. It was carrying a skeleton crew of 17 as it was towed by
the Aiviq from Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands to Seattle for
maintenance. The tow line broke at a shackle attached to one of the
vessels.
"It was new. It was inspected before it left Dutch, but it broke," said Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith.
Before
a line could be reattached, the Aiviq's engines failed, possibly from
contaminated fuel. The Coast Guard cutter Alex Haley attempted to secure
the drifting drill ship but that line failed and wrapped itself around
one of the cutter's propellers, requiring the cutter to return to Kodiak
on one propeller.
With bad weather predicted, the Kulluk's crew
was evacuated Saturday. They hooked up emergency tow lines and left them
trailing behind the vessel in case they were needed.
The Aiviq,
with its engines restored, and a tug re-established lines to the drill
ship, but lines broke Sunday. During a lull in the storm early Monday,
the crew of Alert grabbed the original 400-foot line trailing the drill
ship and later the Aiviq grappled aboard one of the emergency lines.
Associated Press