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 »

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 »

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 »

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday rapped Shell Oil Co., for violating the terms of air pollution permits governing emissions from its drilling rigs and support vessels operating in Arctic waters last year.  More »

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday he is concerned about the series of blunders surrounding Shell’s recent Arctic drilling and is looking to a government investigation for answers. Salazar stopped short of saying Shell would be able to resume drilling exploratory oil wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas this summer.  More »

The federal government has opened a probe into the grounding of Shell’s Arctic drilling rig Kulluk, and investigation that could set back the company’s multibillion-dollar effort to explore in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas.  More »

The Obama administration ordered a broad review of Shell’s Arctic drilling program on Tuesday, following a series of mishaps that culminated when the company’s Kulluk rig ran aground on New Year’s Eve. The move calls into question whether Shell Oil Co. will be allowed to continue its hunt for crude under the Chukchi and Beaufort seas north of Alaska, after spending $5 billion and more than six years on the quest.  More »

A massive campaign to free a grounded Arctic drilling rig that employed more than a dozen ships and some 730 people cleared a big hurdle Monday, as salvagers pulled the vessel to safe harbor in Alaska.  More »

Environmentalists on Thursday stepped up pressure on the Obama administration to halt Arctic oil exploration, citing the grounding of Shell’s Kulluk rig as fresh evidence that the work is too dangerous.  More »

Noble Corp. said Thursday it was working to repair problems with the safety, pollution-control and propulsion systems on its drillship Discoverer, fresh off a tour hunting for Arctic oil for Shell.  More »

On an all-but-invisible horizon, light gray mist meets dark gray water. Tiny, dry snowflakes and ice crystals swirl across the deck of the drillship Noble Discoverer, driven by a wind that whips through the warmest coveralls.  More »