* Shell has legal right to use Seattle port -CEO
* Decision to produce oil in Alaska is a decade away
* Van Beurden says stranded assets theory "ignores reality"
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell willpress on with a campaign to explore the Arctic for oil thissummer despite protests in the port city of Seattle, chiefexecutive officer Ben van Beurden said on Tuesday.
Hundreds of environmental activists have fanned out acrossthe Seattle Bay in recent days to disrupt the Anglo-Dutchcompany's rigs from entering the port en route to the ChukchiSea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arctic waterscould lead to an ecological catastrophe.
Van Beurden however dismissed claims that Shell's was usingSeattle's port illegally.
"The contract that we have with Fos, the maritime contractorthat we have there, the lease that they have in terminal 5 wethink they are legally valid and indeed have tested it and areready to move ahead with putting the Polar Pioneer (rig) there,loading it out so it is ready for its journey to Alaska," vanBeurden told investors during Shell's annual general meeting inThe Hague, Netherlands.
"We have not seen, apart from the protests, any legalobstacles for us to do that."
Environmental groups contend harsh and shifting weatherconditions make it impossible to drill in the Arctic, a regionwith a fragile environment that helps regulate the globalclimate because of its vast layers of sea ice.
Van Beurden nevertheless sought to assuage investor concernsover Alaska by saying that any decision to invest there "is manyyears if not a decade away".
"We will only proceed with the real development of anythingoffshore Alaska if again we can find that we can do itresponsibly, economically sensibly and commercially sensibly."
Shell requires further permits to get the final green lightbefore resuming fossil fuel exploration in the Arctic, which wassuspended after a mishap-filled 2012 season.
"IGNORES REALITY"
Shell's AGM was dominated by questions and comments overShell's environmental track record as well as the oil and gasgiant's efforts to curb carbon emissions.
Van Beurden lambasted calls by environmental activists toreduce investment in new oil production in order to reducecarbon emissions to prevent global warming.
"The theory also ignores the reality of our industry and asa matter of fact it actually risks distraction from the realissues around energy transition needs," Van Beurden said.
"If there will be no further investments in oil production,the gap between supply and demand could be 70 million barrelsper day by 2040 ... we will need sustained and substantialinvestment just to meet the demand to fuel economic growthespecially in the developing world." (Reporting by Ron Bousso, editing by David Evans)