Shell Wins Conditional U.S. Backing for Chukchi Sea Oil Plan
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Royal Dutch Shell Plc won conditional U.S. approval for a plan to drill as many as six exploration wells in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea next year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said.
Final approval requires Shell to meet safety and environmental-protection measures, according to an e-mailed statement today from the Interior Department bureau. Shell will have to stop drilling 38 days before ice appears in the Arctic, to avoid an end-of-the season spill when cleanup is difficult, the agency said. The U.S. projects ice will form by Nov. 1.