Today’s ship photo is of Shell’s $200 million AHTS, Aiviq, sitting in Dutch Harbor just waiting to go ‘do-what-it-do’ in the Chukchi Sea. The photo was taken on July 30th, and since then a few vessels in Shell’s arctic flotilla, Aiviq included, have started to trickle up North.
Shell’s had a tough time this summer with its arctic drilling program. Permitting delays, a “heavy ice” that magically defies charts, and a near-grounding have all contributed to the Shell scaling back it’s activities from five exploratory wells to two. Still no word on when Shell’s activities will ramp up but one thing is for sure; the window is closing rapidly. Not too mention everyday in Dutch is running shell a few million, but hey, it’s not my money.
Bonus Photos:
All photos (c) Jack Molan