US gives Shell approval to drill for oil in Arctic

U.S. government on Monday granted approval to Royal Dutch Shell to drill for oil and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean, which has escalated a battle with environmentalists.

Shell, the Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company, has been given a permit to conduct exploratory drilling activities into oil-bearing zones offshore Alaska at one of its two wells at the Burger Prospect, said Brian Salerno, director of Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) with the Department of the Interior.

In late July, the oil giant received BSEE's conditional approval to conduct limited exploratory drilling activities at the two wells, which banned the company from drilling deeper into oil- bearing zones other than the top of such zones, as the company didn't have a particular emergency response vessel on hand, which is now made available in the region.

With the other well, Shell, would still be required to limit its drilling only the top of the oil-bearing zones, the BSEE stressed in a statement.

Also, Shell is not allowed to conduct drilling at the two wells simultaneously.

The approval of Shell's drillings plans has angered environmentalists, who say the Arctic is too sensitive an ecosystem to allow oil drilling and risk a potential spill.
  Xinhua - china.org.cn
  18/8/15
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