A flotilla of drilling rigs and ancillary vessels has sailed from Seattle, Washington bound for Dutch Harbor, Alaska in readiness for Shell’s exploration campaign in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas offshore Alaska.
The Kulluk and the Noble Discoverer and several support vessels are now enroute to the Alaskan Aleutian Island of Unalaska and its Dutch Harbor, where they will wait for the final word from the US government on the drilling programme and, given the go-ahead, for an ice-free passage into the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to the planned drillsites.