Peak Oil: Problem? What Problem?

The ongoing saga of Royal Dutch Shell’s efforts to move the crippled drill rig Kulluk were summed up in a very nice piece written last week by Dan Joling at the Huffington Post.

Explaining that the efforts are taking place during “the worst of the North Pacific’s fury” is probably all you need to know. But since the reality of our fossil fuel exploration challenges has not turned on all the light bulbs in some quarters, it’s worth mentioning a few other tidbits Mr. Joling offered. [And let’s keep in mind this is being attempted near the Arctic, in the ocean, in January. The “rescue efforts” were in fact successfully completed a few days after Joling’s article.]

If the drill ship can be pulled from the rocks off Sitkalidak Island, it will be towed 30 miles to shelter in Kodiak Island’s Kiliuda Bay, a cove about 43 miles southeast of the city of Kodiak.
The Kulluk is a circular barge 266 feet in diameter with a funnel-shaped, reinforced steel hull that allows it to operate in ice. One of two Shell ships that drilled last year in the Arctic Ocean, it has a 160-foot derrick rising from its center and no propulsion system of its own.

I’ll be the first to admit I know absolutely nothing about towing drill rigs, or towing anything at all, actually. If pulling my two-year old daughter in her red wagon a couple of decades ago counts, then I have some towing experience, but that would pretty much be all of it. Notwithstanding, none of what Mr. Joling explained strikes me as anything other than immensely complex and risky.

The article explains that the rig was en route to Seattle when the anchor line broke. Four re-attached lines running from the Kulluk to several ships “also broke in stormy weather.” To uniformed me, that would suggest some serious travel issues. Four lines broke? Just to help matters along, four engines failed in the ship originally charged with the tow. That same ship was back for round two. That must have been a lot of fun, during “the worst of the North Pacific’s fury” … near the Arctic, in the ocean, in January.

Can’t imagine that a rig stuck on a “rocky bottom” would pose all that much trouble, in … “the worst of the North Pacific’s fury,” near the Arctic, in the ocean, in January. The good news is that “More than 600 people [are] working on the recovery.” All for one rig mind you. Must be nice to have so many extra hands on deck, so to speak. Can’t imagine the costs involved in all that manpower would run more than a few thousand dollars or so, right?

Quoting Dan Magone, president of Magone Marine, who expressed doubts that the efforts will be a simple matter by any definition, and whose company’s own salvage efforts for two other disabled vessels are on hold for several more months:

‘The insurance company doesn’t want to pay any more money than they have to to get the wrecks out of there, so why risk our equipment and our crew and spend a thousand percent more money playing around in the wintertime when you can just wait until the weather’s good and do it then?’

Magone also added:

‘Of course with a big fiasco like this, there’s all kinds of pressure and everything. But there’s a limit to what you can do.’

Can’t argue with that logic or his expertise. So what does that say about the efforts required for the Kulluk?

And just to add a tiny concern, Mr. Joling offered this:

Shell has reported superficial damage above the deck and seawater within that entered through open hatches. Water has knocked out regular and emergency generators, but portable generators were put on board Friday.
The condition of the hull will be key in determining whether the Kulluk can be refloated.

So before the public signs off on the Happy Talk oil industry officials and their media shills offer them about the “vast” this or that in the Arctic and elsewhere that is ours but for federal regulations and the nefarious motivations of our America-hating-out-to-destroy-us-all-just-for-kicks President and his Administration, it might be worth asking:

This is what the oil industry is resorting to in order to supply us with oil? I wonder why?

Answers—the ones supported by facts and reality—aren’t all that hard to find.

Peak Oil Matters