Posts under ‘Houston Chronicle’

Government’s report on Arctic woes too mild, activists argue By Jennifer A. Dlouhy | March 14, 2013 WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Thursday vowed to keep a closer watch on all areas of Shell’s Arctic drilling operations – from deployment to demobilization – before allowing the company to hunt for oil in the region [...]

Posted on October 11, 2012 at 3:42 am by Jennifer A. Dlouhy Donald LeCourt, Shell Alaska’s wells HSE team leader, and other workers take a helicopter ride to the Noble Discoverer during a crew change on Oct. 9, 2012. In preparation for the hour-long flights over frigid Arctic waters, crew members must complete helicopter underwater [...]

Posted on October 5, 2012 at 4:00 pm by Bloomberg Motiva Enterprises plans to restart a damaged 325,000-barrel-a-day crude unit at its Port Arthur refinery as early as the first week in December, according to people familiar with refinery operations. Motiva expects to complete repairs on the unit this month and conduct test runs and [...]

COMMENT BY A REGULAR CONTRIBUTOR SHELL’S MADNESS… Has anyone thought about the implications of a 500m exclusion zone around Shell property in Holland?   This would prevent Greenpeace members from entering a large proportion of the Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, from using motorways and most major roads, or from going near any of the thousands [...]

The Kulluk conical drilling rig is docked in the Vigor shipyard in Seattle, where it has undergone refurbishments meant to ready the 1980s-era conical drilling rig for Arctic drilling this summer. (Jennifer A. Dlouhy / The Houston Chronicle) Posted on September 20, 2012 at 1:50 pm by Jennifer A. Dlouhy Although federal regulators today gave [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Updated 9:48 p.m., Monday, August 13, 2012 WASHINGTON – Neither thick Arctic ice nor government red tape is holding back Shell’s plans to search for oil in waters north of Alaska this summer, a top Obama administration official said Monday. Instead, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters, the delays are Shell’s own [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Published 09:56 p.m., Monday, July 30, 2012 WASHINGTON – Environmental activists are keeping the pressure on Shell Oil Co. as it inches closer to launching exploratory drilling in Arctic waters north of Alaska. Greenpeace activists and marine biologists conducting research in the area documented thick accumulations of soft coral in the Chukchi [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Updated 07:33 p.m., Thursday, July 26, 2012 Shell’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser addresses the audience during the opening ceremonies for Motiva’s Crude Expansion Project in Port Arthur on Thursday. Photo taken Thursday, May 31, 2012 Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise Photo: Guiseppe Barranco / The Beaumont Enterprise Shell is scaling back plans to [...]

Motiva to restart damaged unit in early 2013 By Simone Sebastian: Published 07:31 p.m., Thursday, July 19, 2012 Motiva Enterprises plans to restart the new crude distillation unit at its Port Arthur refinery early next year, after damage from a chemical leak shut it down last month, the company said Thursday. Weeks after the May 31 [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Published 10:53 p.m., Friday, July 6, 2012 WASHINGTON – Shell’s plans to search for oil under Arctic waters this summer – already delayed by thick ice clinging to Alaska’s shores – may face another setback as the company makes Coast Guard-ordered improvements to a barge designed to carry emergency response equipment. During [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Published 11:02 p.m., Friday, June 29, 2012 WASHINGTON – An aggressive legal strategy by Shell Oil Co. that aims to keep environmentalists from interfering with its drilling rigs has only emboldened activists who plan to protest and closely scrutinize the company’s Arctic drilling operations this summer. Greenpeace activists have set sail in an [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Published 11:06 p.m., Friday, June 29, 2012 SEATTLE – During Shell’s seven-year, $4.5 billion quest to search for oil under Arctic waters, environmentalists have put the company on the defensive by challenging government-issued drilling approvals and permits in federal court. The strategy has been so successful that in 2011, Shell was forced to [...]

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy Published 09:55 p.m., Tuesday, June 26, 2012 United States secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, speaks during a conference in Trondheim, Norway, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. The conference is centered on the management and use of natural resources in arctic areas. (AP Photo/Ned Alley / NTB scanpix) NORWAY OUT Photo: Alley, Ned [...]

By Emily Pickerell Updated 10:33 p.m., Tuesday, June 26, 2012 An industry safety clearinghouse formed after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is about to kick off a program for certifying outside auditors that the government soon may require to examine offshore operators’ safety plans. Charlie Williams, executive director of the Houston-based Center for Offshore Safety, [...]

Regulator vows close watch on Shell in Arctic By Jennifer A. Dlouhy: Updated 07:37 p.m., Thursday, June 14, 2012 WASHINGTON – Federal inspectors will be stationed around the clock on rigs that Shell plans to use in drilling up to five wells in Arctic waters near Alaska this summer, a top U.S. regulator promised Thursday. Director James [...]