Coast Guard Blames Shell Risk-Taking in Kulluk Rig Accident

The company headed into rough winter waters to avoid Alaska tax liability, authorities conclude.

Shell's drilling rig, Kulluk, ran aground off the coast of Alaska in late 2012 due to the company's "inadequate assessment and management of risks" in icy, storm-tossed waters, said the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday in its final report on the accident. (See related "Pictures: Errant Shell Rig Runs Aground Off Alaska.")

The new findings further complicate the oil industry's efforts to launch a new era of exploration in Arctic, which is estimated to hold 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas. (See related "Quiz: What You Don't Know About Energy in the Changing Arctic.") The Kulluk accident occurred weeks after Shell* made the first foray into drilling in U.S.

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