Drilling for Oil in the Arctic May Get Harder Thanks to Shell

More and more the Arctic is drawing the eye of an array of prospectors as the ice continues to thaw more every year, making drilling and other forms of quarrying easier and less expensive.

However, anyone looking to drill for oil may face tougher laws as a result of a series of mishaps Shell has committed ever since it set about to conduct exploratory drilling.

The problems started last September when a part of its oil-spill containment vessels broke during testing. Then, in January of this year, a drilling rig ran aground.

All of this comes even after the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) required Shell to prepare for a blowout three times larger than the 2010 Deepwater Horizon leak before it was allowed to drill. Such a request marked the strictest offshore measures ever issued by the DOI.

After looking into Shell's mishaps, the DOI issued a report stating that the company "entered the drilling season not fully prepared in terms of fabricating and testing certain critical systems and establishing the scope of its operational plans." This in turn put "pressure on Shell's overall operations and timelines at the end of drilling season."

The report then goes on to blame these shortcomings in part to "Shell's management and oversight of key contractors."

As a result, Shell cannot go forward until it receives approval from the federal government. However, this time it doesn't stop there. For the first time the DOI is bringing on independent reviewers to inspect Shell before it can drill.

Furthermore, Shell must now submit a much more detailed report on its plans, including everything from how it will get its ships to each drill site, to how the company plans to respond to a spill.

Whether or not such precautions will be assigned future companies is unclear. However, as Marilyn Heiman of the Pew Environment Group pointed out in an article by New Scientist, Shell typically has a good track record.

"Even they were unable to deal with the challenge," she said.