July 13, 2015
The 39-inch (1 meter) gash in the hull of the Fennica was found last week.
MSV Fennica is a Finnish multipurpose icebreaker and platform supply vessel. Built in 1993 by Finnyards in Rauma, Finland and operated by Arctia Offshore, she was the first Finnish icebreaker designed to be used as an escort icebreaker in the Baltic Sea during the winter months and in offshore construction projects during the open water season. Fennica has an identical sister ship, Nordica, built in 1994.
On 3 July 2015, a hole of unknown origin about 39 inches (99 cm) long and less than half an inch (1.3 cm) wide was discovered in one of Fennica 's ballast tanks. The vessel, which was underway from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to the Chukchi Sea, returned to port for inspection and repairs. As of 7 July 2015, it is not known if the hull damage will affect to Shell's drilling operations as Fennica is tasked to carry the capping stack, a critical piece of safety equipment designed to shut off the flow of fluids from a well in case of blowout.
Voyage time between Portland and southern Alaska should not delay the company's plans to begin drilling off northern Alaska in the Chukchi Sea later this month, Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said.
The Fennica is one of two ice management vessels in Shell's fleet of nearly 30 ships it expects to bring to the Chukchi off northern Alaska this summer. It contains the capping stack, or emergency equipment designed to contain a blown-out undersea well, required for the drilling. "We do not anticipate any impact on our season as we don't expect to require the vessel until August," Smith said.
Shell believes that drilling can proceed while the Fennica is being repaired so long as it does not extend into the zone bearing oil and gas. It plans to build the foundations of wells and do other preparatory work before drilling into that zone.
The gash found in the Fennica was the second recent setback to Shell's Arctic ambitions. On June 30 the Interior Department informed Shell that established walrus protections prevent it from drilling two wells simultaneously that are less than 15 miles (24 km) apart, which means the company has to adjust its drilling this year.
Shell has not drilled in the Arctic since 2012 when after the summer drilling season an enormous drilling rig it was leasing broke free and grounded. If Shell discovers oil, it could begin producing in 10 or 15 years.
After this season it will have spent about $7 billion on Arctic drilling off Alaska before producing oil.
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Shell icebreaker Fennica damaged caused by uncharted shoal
The icebreaker Fennica, which suffered a gash to its hull last week while en route to Shell’s proposed Arctic drill site, may have been damaged by a previously uncharted shoal.
While the US Coast Guard (USCG) is still investigating the cause of the 39-inch by two-inch gash, the vessel’s Finnish owner Arctia Offshore, who contracted the Fennica to Shell, has asked the USCG to approve plans for sealing the hole.
The vessel is a crucial element of Shell’s Arctic fleet as it is loaded with a capping stack designed to fit on top of a damaged well in case of a blowout or other emergency. If it’s not ready it would put a crimp in Shell’s plans to start drilling in the Chukchi Sea, northwest of Alaska.
Shell was planning to start drilling in the third week of July, pending some minor clearances, and that would mark the oil giant’s return to Arctic drilling for the first time in three years.
The USCG announced that hydrographic surveyors discovered the shoal but they would not speculate as to whether it was the cause of the breach in the Fennica.
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For Immediate Release
Monday, July 13, 2015 - 1:30pm
Oceana
Contact:
Christopher Krenz: ckrenz@oceana.org 907-586-4050
Jon Warrenchuk: jwarrenchuk@oceana.org 907-586-6744
Jon Warrenchuk: jwarrenchuk@oceana.org 907-586-6744
Ice Breaker Fennica incident demonstrates Shell has not learned lessons of 2012
JUNEAU,
AK -
Automatic Identification System (AIS) data shows the MSV Fennica with a draft of 27 feet repeatedly crossed a rocky shoal previously marked as having a depth of less than 32 feet shortly before the ship was found to be damaged and a 3 foot gouge discovered.
This was especially risky behavior given the deep draft of the Fennica, knowledge that the shorelines of Alaska are not well charted, ocean swells that can decrease clearance, and a nearby alternative deep water route to the west of Hog Island.
Risky behavior and lack of adequate oversight of contractors were sighted by the government for being important contributors to Shell’s near disastrous 2012 Arctic drilling season. Oceana and SkyTruth are tracking vessel movements of interest. A map of the ships positions and route overlaid on a nautical chart is attached.
In response to this information Dr. Chris Krenz, Arctic Campaign Manager and Senior Scientist, issued the following statement:
“It is shocking that Shell appears to still be taking shortcuts instead of instituting a culture of safety and precaution. The Fennica could have easily travelled along a much safer route instead of going over a shallow, rocky shoal in an area that to begin with is not well charted. Shell’s 2015 drilling operations are reminiscent of their failures to operate safely in 2012.
Given the Fennica incident the Department of Interior should ensure a full investigation of this accident is completed and lessons learned and implemented before issuing Shell any further permits. If Shell’s management of their program is unable to avoid accidents such as these, they are certainly not ready to conduct activities that put the health of Arctic marine ecosystems at considerable risk.”
Automatic Identification System (AIS) data shows the MSV Fennica with a draft of 27 feet repeatedly crossed a rocky shoal previously marked as having a depth of less than 32 feet shortly before the ship was found to be damaged and a 3 foot gouge discovered.
This was especially risky behavior given the deep draft of the Fennica, knowledge that the shorelines of Alaska are not well charted, ocean swells that can decrease clearance, and a nearby alternative deep water route to the west of Hog Island.
Risky behavior and lack of adequate oversight of contractors were sighted by the government for being important contributors to Shell’s near disastrous 2012 Arctic drilling season. Oceana and SkyTruth are tracking vessel movements of interest. A map of the ships positions and route overlaid on a nautical chart is attached.
In response to this information Dr. Chris Krenz, Arctic Campaign Manager and Senior Scientist, issued the following statement:
“It is shocking that Shell appears to still be taking shortcuts instead of instituting a culture of safety and precaution. The Fennica could have easily travelled along a much safer route instead of going over a shallow, rocky shoal in an area that to begin with is not well charted. Shell’s 2015 drilling operations are reminiscent of their failures to operate safely in 2012.
Given the Fennica incident the Department of Interior should ensure a full investigation of this accident is completed and lessons learned and implemented before issuing Shell any further permits. If Shell’s management of their program is unable to avoid accidents such as these, they are certainly not ready to conduct activities that put the health of Arctic marine ecosystems at considerable risk.”
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Oceana
is the largest international ocean conservation and advocacy
organization. Oceana works to protect and restore the world’s oceans
through targeted policy campaigns.
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Damaged Arctic icebreaker’s route questioned
The MSV Fennica (Tom Doyle/Flickr)
New marine tracking data shows a Shell-contracted icebreaker may have crossed through shallow waters that offered little clearance between the vessel’s bottom and the ocean floor before a 3-foot hole was discovered in its hull.
The Automatic Identification System data — location information captured every minute from the MSV Fennica — shows its July 3 route away from the Alaska Port of Dutch Harbor before a leak identified by a marine pilot and other crew onboard the icebreaker forced it to turn back.
When that AIS tracking data is overlaid over navigational charts of the area — which date back decades — it appears the Fennica crossed through waters with charted depths of as little as 31.5 feet. While an additional 3 feet may have been gained by high tide at the time, that would give the Fennica potentially scant clearance over some of the rocky shoal in those waters, because it drafts at the Fennica’s recorded draft is 27 feet, giving it potentially scant clearance over some of the rocky shoal.
It appears likely the Fennica was gouged when it traveled near a previously uncharted rocky shoal that was documented by a government survey ship on Wednesday and the subject of an alert to mariners a day later.
But conservation group Oceana, which conducted the analysis, said it suggests Shell’s contracted icebreaker still took a riskier path instead of a deeper alternative route around nearby Hog Island, as it trekked toward proposed drilling sites in the Arctic Ocean.
“There are safer, more precautionary ways for them to go,” said Chris Krenz, a senior scientist and Arctic campaign manager for the group. “The Fennica could have easily traveled along a much safer route instead of going over a shallow, rocky shoal in an area that (already) is not well charted.”
“This is risk-prone behavior, not risk-averse behavior,” Krenz said.
Krenz said it revived memories of the Dec. 31, 2012 grounding of the Kulluk, a Shell-owned drilling rig that ran aground on a rocky Alaska island after the company tried towing it across the stormy Gulf of Alaska. After investigations, the Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board rapped Shell for failing to adequately assess the risks of the tow job.
More granular ship position detail was not immediately available Friday from Shell or Arctia, the Finnish company that owns the Fennica.
But a Shell spokesman on Monday said the Fennica’s planned route kept it in charted depths of at least 42 feet.
And Rick Entenmann, president of the Alaska Marine Pilots’ Western Alaska region, said the Fennica’s path kept it in charted depths of 7 1/2 to 10 fathoms of water — roughly 45 to 60 feet.
“The vessel would have had at least 10 feet under the keel,” Entenmann said. “Plus, we had a 3-foot tide.”
The Fennica is one of two ice-management vessels in Shell’s Arctic fleet.
Arctia and Shell are developing a repair plan that must be approved by the classification society Det Norske Veritas. The Coast Guard can review and offer its input into the repair plan.
The work could be done at the Fennica’s current location, in Dutch Harbor. The founder of a local repair company has suggested that the work is relatively straightforward.
But if more extensive work is needed, it could require moving the Fennica to a dry dock, a potentially time-consuming operation.
Shell has asked regulators for permission to drill two wells at its Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, about 70 miles off Alaska’s coastline. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement is reviewing the company’s applications for permits to drill. Other key federal approvals have already been issued.
