Shell faces delays in working in Alaska

LONDON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Trying to get U.S. regulators to release an air-quality permit for Royal Dutch Shell's work in Alaska could create lengthy delays, the company said.

Shell is halfway through a 10-year lease in Alaska but is prevented from doing much of its work because of environmental complaints and permit issues, the Financial Times reports.

Marvin Odum, president of Shell's operations in Alaska, told the Financial Times that his company faced a "significant challenge to drilling in 2011."

Odum said air-quality permits were among the last his company needed to work in the arctic waters off Alaska's coast but said it might be 2012 before everything is settled with the U.S. government.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates there are at least 25 billion barrels of oil and significant quantities of natural gas in Alaska's outer continental shelf.

A federal commission probing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year said environmental conditions in Alaska's arctic region caused concerns when considering safe operations.

Odum said the commission's recommendations shouldn't be taken on a de facto ban on working in Alaska, however.