The US government formally gave its blessing to the Netherlands-based oil giant to begin drilling in Alaska after a hiatus of more than two decades.
On Monday, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it had approved a permit to drill beneath the sea bed. The decision came after the Fennica brought in equipment that could stop a possible oil well blowout.
Known as a capping stack, the roughly 10-metre device can be deployed on a wellhead to act like a valve and stop a blowout.
Delivery of the capping stack had been delayed as the Fennica sat in dry dock in Portland, Oregon after suffering hull damage in July. The US government requires Shell to have the device ready to use within 24 hours of a blowout.
At the end of July environmental activists tried to prevent the Fennica from continuing its journey to Alaska by hanging off the nearby St. Johns Bridge.
Shell leased the icebreaker from state-owned Arctia Shipping to assist with its drilling operations off Alaska’s northwest coast.
Shell says it hopes to drill two exploration wells by late September.
