Drilling barge pulled from rocks off Alaska island
Source: AP-Excite
By DAN JOLING
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - A large floating drill rig that ran aground a week ago on a remote Alaska island arrived as planned Monday in the shelter of a Kodiak Island bay after being towed about 45 miles through swells as high as 15 feet, officials said.
The Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDS.B) vessel was lifted off rocks late Sunday and towed away from the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, where it sat exposed to the full-on fury of Gulf of Alaska winter storms since grounding near the beach there on New Year's Eve.
The Kulluk - a circular barge with a diameter as long as nearly three basketball courts - was towed for about 12 hours to the protected waters in Kiliuda Bay, where it will undergo further inspection, including an underwater look at its hull.
"We could not be more impressed with the caliber of the response and recovery crews who were safe and meticulous in their effort to move the Kulluk offshore," Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said by email.
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In this image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard the conical drilling unit Kulluk sits grounded 40 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2012. The Kulluk grounded after many efforts by tug vessel crews and Coast Guard crews to move the vessel to safe harbor during a winter storm.Calls for federal scrutiny of Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling operations in Arctic waters swelled Thursday with a request for a formal investigation by members of Congress. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty Officer 2nd Class Zachary Painter)
= new reply since forum marked as read
why can't we stick to units of measurement that everyone understands, like football fields 