Refloated!

Shell's offshore drilling barge, the Kulluk, has been refloated.

The barge had been aground on Sitkalidak Island since New Year's Eve after getting away from tow boats in heavy seas.

To the rescue

Shell, headquartered in the Netherlands, naturally plans to use a Dutch outfit, Smit Salvage, to try to retrieve that behemoth drilling platform stranded at Kodiak Island.

The only question now is whether the rig will come off the beach whole, or in pieces.

Here is Shell's statement on the grounding.

Hard aground

Any hope for the Kulluk? USCG photo

 

Here's another view of Shell's drilling platform, the Kulluk, beached off Kodiak.

And here's a map of the platform's location.

The latest word from the unified command is the vessel remains stable, with no sign of a hull breach.

Not looking good

The U.S. Coast Guard took this shot today of Shell's mobile offshore drilling platform, the Kulluk, aground on remote Sitkalidak Island on the southeast side of Kodiak Island. Shell used the platform in drilling operations this summer in the Arctic Ocean. A tug was towing the nonmotorized rig to Seattle for maintenance when it experienced engine and towline problems in tough weather. A huge emergency response and salvage effort is under way, but the Kulluk could be doomed. Shell had spent $292 million upgrading the platform, which was evacuated well before the grounding. USCG photo

Big trouble off Kodiak

The drilling platform Kulluk and two tugs. USCG photo

Shell and the U.S. Coast Guard are fighting like crazy to save a mobile offshore drilling platform that's broken free from tow boats in a stormy Gulf of Alaska south of Kodiak Island.

Responders are thinking about taking the platform, if they can regain control of it, to safe anchorage in Marmot Bay.

Here's a state situation report issued at 5 p.m.

And here's a unified command website with updates, video and photos.

Cargo ship adrift, threatens Aleutian Islands

A cargo ship laden with rapeseed for making canola oil is adrift without power in the Bering Sea some 44 miles northwest of Atka Island.

The problem sounds fairly dire. The crew of the 738-foot Golden Seas, seen in the photograph, reports the ship's engine can't be repaired at sea, says this Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation situation report issued at 4 p.m.

"The engine is able to turn the ship's propeller, but not with sufficient power for the vessel to hold its position or make headway," the report says. "The vessel is adrift and currently being driven by prevailing wind and seas toward the northwest shore of Atka Island at a speed of approximately 2.5 knots. Current projections have the ship making landfall there in approximately 14 hours."

The good news is two Shell Oil offshore work boats at Dutch Harbor, the Tor Viking II and the Nanuq, have been contracted to go get the cargo ship. But they're many miles away.

Of course, U.S. Coast Guard assets are responding, too.