Shell's rocky return Oil giant's plans to go after oil in Beaufort

Anchorage Daily News ^ | August 19, 2007 | WESLEY LOY

[saganite]

Two decades ago, when Dutch oil giant Shell was poking holes in the ice-clogged Arctic Ocean, Rick Fox was a young buck managing the company's drilling rigs.

Some of the holes hit oil, and Fox and the other oil men felt pretty good about what they found.

But none of the discoveries was developed -- the price of oil was too low and the finds too remote -- and Shell abandoned Alaska's Arctic.

Now Fox, 55, and Shell are mounting an aggressive return to the polar ocean, staking hundreds of millions of dollars to lease vast offshore acreage, staff an Anchorage office and assemble a flotilla of drilling ships to sink more holes in the Beaufort Sea.

The reason for the return is the high price of oil plus potential for big discoveries, says Fox, now the company's Alaska asset manager.

"Conditions are right for us to re-enter and give it another shot," he says. "And we are committed in a very big way."

If Shell and other companies that might follow are successful, they could open a vast frontier and ignite a potentially dazzling new era for Alaska's most important industry, oil and gas.

But getting there has proven difficult. Last week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dealt what could be a death blow to Shell's drilling plans -- at least for this year.

[saganite]

An update on Shell's plans to drill in the Beaufort Sea. Combine this with the oil in ANWAR and we're looking at potentially 20 billion barrels of oil being put of limits.

[Dutch Tulip]

This is essential for free world oil. Well over 8 billion bls of reserves are there according to estimates.
Ethanol is a total disaster. It is $10.00 a gallon to produce (not including the waste of precious underground water) and it has driven the price of food through the roof. It will collapse because of its own flaws but it should be stopped by rational people before your meat bread and milk are impossible to buy.
Drill Drill Drill. I need to get to work from my suburban home.

[Issaquahking]

Ping!

[trek]

Shell is getting reamed on this deal. They are going to lose a minimum of $100 million this year because of these green creeps. And don't underestimate them. These bolshevik nutcases were really smart. They waited until Shell was fully mobilized and then shopped the suit to a friendly judge on the 9th circuit inflicting maximum financial harm. The greens and their whores in black robes won without firing a shot. All the judge had to do was grant the stay and then delay holding a hearing until it was too late to utilize the resources deployed before the season was over. Pretty clever.

Now next year the risks have to include getting screwed by the insane judges. Don't forget. Shell had the permits! This suit was a challenge to the issued permits. So think about it from Shell's point of view. Even if you get the permits you can still take a $100 million dollar hit without warning. This is madness.

[hubbubhubbub]

“Ethanol is a total disaster.”

Not for ADM. They raked in $$Millions in taxpayer funds.