The fire caused no injuries
Shell and Dutch Harbor representatives reported that a small fire, caused by an explosion, broke out Friday on a drill ship used by Royal Dutch Shell to explore for oil in Alaska’s remote Chukchi Sea.
The fire caused no injuries and will not affect Shell’s operations schedule, said Curtis Smith, spokesman for the company in Alaska.
The Noble Discoverer, used by Shell to drill the top portion of an exploratory well, was not in operation and was in the Aleutian Island port of Dutch Harbor when the fire occurred, officials said.
The ship completed seasonal drilling operations in the Chukchi on October 31. It was at the harbor on its way to a site where it will spend the winter, the company spokesman said.
Upon engine start-up in the port, the ship “experienced a loud engine backfire followed by a small residual fire that was quickly extinguished by the crew,” Smith said.
No assistance from local firefighters in Unalaska/Dutch Harbor was needed, Smith said.
The Discoverer, accompanied by a fleet of support vessels, was permitted to drill only the top portion of a well at Shell’s Burger prospect. Federal regulators withheld permission for drilling into oil-bearing depths because Shell’s required oil-spill barge failed to win U.S. Coast Guard certification for seaworthiness in time for the open-water drill season.
Source: Maritime Connector
