Royal Dutch Shell PLC said on Monday an icebreaker crucial to planned Arctic oil drilling will be sent to Portland, Oregon to repair a gash in its hull, but the issue is not expected to delay the beginning of drilling off Alaska later in July.
Shell believes that drilling can proceed while the Fennica is being repaired so long as it does not extend into the undersea zone bearing oil and gas. It plans to build the foundations of wells and do other preparatory work before drilling into that zone.
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