Shell’s Kulluk oil drilling rig left Dutch Harbor in December to avoid the prospect of millions in taxes, a Shell official revealed Saturday in testimony to a Coast Guard investigation panel.  More »

The Coast Guard will kick off hearings Monday on how a Shell rig used for Arctic Ocean exploratory drilling ended up aground off a remote Alaska island.  More »

News reports focused on Arctic drilling problems experienced by Shell, but the unregulated ship traffic is a bigger concern up North, said Begich, D-Alaska.  More »

The Obama administration on Thursday released the findings of a high-level probe of Shell’s problem-plagued 2012 Arctic drilling season that could dictate what energy companies must do to safeguard future oil exploration in the region.  More »

A massive oceangoing dry-dock is hauling an Arctic drillship to Korea for repair, and another rig is about to make a similar journey, after problems surfaced once the vessels bored exploratory wells for Shell north of Alaska.  More »

The drillship used to bore part of an Arctic oil well for Shell last summer lacked sufficient propulsion power, had engine problems and posed fire hazards, according to a Coast Guard inspection of the vessel last November and released on Friday.  More »

Shell’s once-grounded Arctic drilling rig is now free to begin its long trek to an Asian shipyard for repairs, with the Coast Guard’s decision Thursday to lift a detention order that has been keeping the vessel in Alaska’s Kiliuda Bay.  More »

Arctic drilling and a climate change crusade don’t mix, environmentalists are asserting today in half-page advertisements in USA Today aimed squarely at President Barack Obama.  More »

The Coast Guard has officially closed down the broad operation overseeing the response to the Dec. 31 grounding of Shell’s Kulluk drilling rig, as the oil company prepares to send the vessel to an Asian port for repairs.  More »

Two drilling vessels Shell used last summer for work in Alaska’s Arctic must go to Asia for repairs and maintenance, possible thwarting Shell’s plans to resume drilling this year.  More »

Alaskans are imploring the Obama administration to give them a seat at the table as the Interior Department conducts a high-level review of Shell’s Arctic drilling operations.  More »

Arctic drilling can be done safely, as long as the oil industry takes a balanced approach and works with local stakeholders and federal regulators, said Tom Hunter, the chairman of the federal Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee established after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.  More »