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When it comes to drilling for oil in the harsh and unpredictable Arctic, Shell has gone to the dogs, it seems. A dachshund and two border collies to be specific.
The dogs' ability to sniff out oil spills beneath snow and ice has been tested and paid for by Shell – and other oil companies and government research organisations – in preparation for the industry's entry into the forbidding Arctic terrain. The company hopes to begin drilling for oil off the north-west coast of Alaska in June.
The project, conducted by independent Norwegian researchers Sintef off the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norway in 2009, set out to find a low-tech fix to a nightmare scenario for Arctic drilling: how to clean up a spill in remote waters?
The technology for detecting and tracking spilled oil in the Arctic is still in the early stages. To make clean-up even more challenging, the areas in the Chukchi Sea to be drilled are 1,000 miles from the nearest coastguard base.
As the study itself notes: "Today, no proven operational system exists for detecting oil spill covered by snow and/or ice or hidden under beach sediments." The remote and challenging Arctic environment made it difficult to rely on sensitive technological equipment, it added.
However, the campaign group Greenpeace said dachshund sniffer dogs were not the answer.
"The idea that small dogs can track leaking oil deep under the Arctic pack ice in the middle of winter is absurd," said Ben Ayliffe, Arctic campaigner for Greenpeace. "The fact that they are paying good money to seriously use this as an option shows how much they are scrabbling around for a solution."
Others said the study should be an embarrassment to the industry. "This is another example of how we do not have adequate science and technology yet to drill in the Arctic Ocean – particularly in ice," Marilyn Heiman, the director of the US Arctic Programme for the Pew Environment Group said in an email.
"It is embarrassing that using dogs to sniff out oil is the best technology we have to track oil under ice. Industry needs to invest in research to determine how to track oil under ice, as well as significantly improve spill response capability in ice, before [being] allowed to drill in ice conditions."
A spokesman for Shell said the company had done additional research on oil-sniffing dogs since the 2009 study but "nothing major". Curtis Smith, the spokesman, said Shell has no plans to deploy the dogs in Alaska.
The company's oil spill response plan, approved by the interior department last month, calls for a fleet of vessels to be on standby at all times, as well as for the construction of a special capping system that would be able to capture and store up to 80,000 barrels of oil a day.
"Shell and others are looking mainly at technology like advanced radars [and] satellite to detect oil under ice," Smith wrote in an email.
The absence of canine participation is in no way the dogs' fault. The dogs – border collies Jippi and Blues, and dachshund Tara – were able to pick up the scent of oil up to 5km downwind of a spill, the researchers found.
They held up well to long flights, -40C temperatures, and bumpy snowmobile journeys. They were also able to focus on their mission – and did not go tearing off after polar bear or seals, the study said.
"This gives us future possibilities in using specially trained dogs to search large areas covered with snow and ice to detect possible oil spills," the study added.
Comments
12 March 2012 3:14PM
Shell are scum.
12 March 2012 3:31PM
sociopaths
12 March 2012 3:51PM
A case of sausage dog saves Shell’s bacon?
12 March 2012 3:56PM
Ah they have nice cute little dogs, they must be a good crowd then....
12 March 2012 4:02PM
I have a notion; how about researching to prevent spills, not this closing the barn doors afterwards.
12 March 2012 4:17PM
Good work Shell! We need that oil from the Arctic and it is good to see companies like Shell attempting to do it safely.
12 March 2012 5:01PM
A complete disaster waiting to happen.
Ever here of a thorium reactor? Time to stop destroying the planet and start planning for the future.
http://www.ted.com/talks/kirk_sorensen_thorium_an_alternative_nuclear_fuel.html?source=facebook#.T14IAD1-uw9.facebook
12 March 2012 5:32PM
I get the border collies, they can deal with cold temps and rough terrain but a dashund??? the lady at the park pushes hers in a dog stroller (yep they make them specially for pampered pooches now). Whilst I hate the thought of a spill, any measure of detection is a good thing and I do understand we need oil.
12 March 2012 5:48PM
I had no idea dachshunds and border collies had such an acute sense of smell, up there with bloodhounds, I guess. Dachshunds became "liberty dogs" and sauerkraut became "liberty cabbage"in much of the U.S. in 1917-18 as we were fighting the Huns...the Germans. This didn't last long after the armistice considering the millions of German immigrants here, such as the Eisenhauers (became Eisenhower) and the Von Nimitz family, later Admiral Nimitz of the US Navy in WWII.
12 March 2012 6:22PM
That's not very impressive. How big was the spill? Under 5km of ice, or even 1km, would mean something. But seriously, that's human style performance.
12 March 2012 7:13PM
What happens if a polar bear steps on it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scHYNmreaYU
12 March 2012 7:27PM
That's quite a slick idea!
Sorry, I'll get me coat.
12 March 2012 7:34PM
Perhaps Shell will give you a job.
12 March 2012 8:32PM
Why would dogs want to sniff out oil in the first place? Surely they would be better suited to sniffing out uh, sausages, chops, gravy, that sort of thing?
If it was a gravy slick that needed monitoring, however, by all means use a dog.
12 March 2012 9:09PM
I like domesticated dogs, so I'm not going to associate them negatively in my mind with the docile employees of a mega corp that occasionally throws them a bone in return for their unthinking obedience and loyalty... fetch...!
12 March 2012 9:36PM
So Shell's ideas now revolve around killing dogs through exposure?
Just when you thought they couldn't get any more heartless. Here's an idea: we're going to run out of oil eventually, why don't we start transitioning over to a clean energy future today rather than when we run out and we're too fubar to be able to correct the course we're on at that stage?
12 March 2012 10:03PM
Barking mad.
12 March 2012 10:26PM
Criminals. Profit at all cost.
Smelly genocide civilization we became.
12 March 2012 10:43PM
What a load of rubbish who do they think they are fooling? Personally I see this as extreme cruelty to animals. Shell try so hard to say they care about the environment but it just doesn't work.
13 March 2012 9:35AM
Excellent - why don't they train the dogs to lick the oil up as well!
13 March 2012 12:36PM
The technology for detecting and tracking spilled oil in the Arctic is still in the early stages.
But they will still drill for oil under the Arctic ice sheet with the same technology that blew up in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. How long did that open hole gush for, 3 months was it.
Money, Money, Money.
Awe look at the cute little puppy everyone.
13 March 2012 4:26PM
Once again the “Petroleum Pigs” (by: Greg Palast) have display their total ignorance in searching further for the phantom ghost that will fix and condone their arrogance. So now they are not only destroying the animal wildlife and its survival, they insist on bringing in new animal cultures (Dogs; man’s best friend) and calling it expendable research. I would suggest they send down one of their own pin-striped oily slim, pocket money bulging criminal cooperate directors to find out where they spilled their wad.
13 March 2012 5:14PM
ive heard leaked reports that shell are also training teams of chimpanze cleaners to be deployed as a rapdid reaction force in the event of spills...
13 March 2012 6:04PM
... and Dolphins as underwater deep-sea welders to carry out repairs!!
14 March 2012 10:19PM
Well, mikedow, that was the big problem on Macondo... the oil industry had spent decades researching how to prevent a deepwater blowout : better pressure predicitons from all sorts of geophysical measurements; Pressure While Drilling tools; multiple BOP control systems (hydraulic, electical, acoustic); 'dead man' switches; automatic 'Drive Off' protection; better kick detection systems like automatic pit totalisers and flo-shows; the WellCAP and IWCF training programmes, but no-one seemed to have asked the question "but what if a deepwater blowour does happen? What do we do then?"
So when a deepwater blowout did occur (largely due to utter incompetence by the Drilling Contractor's staff), the only response was to try techniques from the past- gunk pills, top kills and the engineering of the first collection device was done in such a hurry that the guys forgot about gas hydrates (a problem at the low, often sub zero, temperatures found in the deepwater environment) and the first top hat collection device clogged up.
And now, the specialist subsea contractors and the well control specialists have developed a set of tools and techniques for controlling a deepwater blowout (mainly using existing vessels and equipment- so it could perhaps have been in place pre- Macondo).
So perhaps, Shell thinking the unthinkable (no matter how bizarre their possible solution) is exactly what they should be doing?