July 13 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell said onMonday that an icebreaker crucial to its planned Arctic oildrilling will be sent to Portland, Oregon, to repair a gash inits hull, but is not expected to delay plans to begin drillingoff northern Alaska later in July.
The 39-inch (1 meter) gash in the hull of the Fennica wasfound last week. Voyage time between Portland and southernAlaska should not delay the company's plans to begin drillingoff northern Alaska in the Chukchi Sea later this month, Shellspokesman Curtis Smith said.
The Fennica is one of two ice management vessels in Shell'sfleet of nearly 30 ships it expects to bring to the Chukchi offnorthern Alaska this summer. It contains the capping stack, oremergency equipment designed to contain a blown-out underseawell, required for the drilling. "We do not anticipate anyimpact on our season as we don't expect to require the vesseluntil August," Smith said.
Shell believes that drilling can proceed while the Fennicais being repaired so long as it does not extend into the zonebearing oil and gas. It plans to build the foundations of wellsand do other preparatory work before drilling into that zone.
The gash found in the Fennica was the second recent setbackto Shell's Arctic ambitions. On June 30 the Interior Departmentinformed Shell that established walrus protections prevent itfrom drilling two wells simultaneously that are less than 15miles (24 km) apart, which means the company has to adjust itsdrilling this year.
Shell has not drilled in the Arctic since 2012 when afterthe summer drilling season an enormous drilling rig it wasleasing broke free and grounded. If Shell discovers oil, itcould begin producing in 10 or 15 years. After this season itwill have spent about $7 billion on Arctic drilling off Alaskabefore producing oil.
The company needs two minor permits from the Department ofInterior before it can start drilling. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Leslie Adler)
