"fennica"

This week three ships associated with Shell’s Arctic efforts arrived in Unalaska on a mission to remove the last signs of that effort.

The company has until late September to complete this summer’s exploratory drilling.

The arrival of the Fennica after a month’s delay means the company could get to drill for oil beneath the Chukchi Sea this summer.

Shell began drilling the top of a well in the Chukchi Sea last week, but it does not have federal permission from the U.S. Interior Department to drill into oil-bearing rocks unless the Fennica is on site.

Activists say climate change and the risk of an oil spill make drilling in the Arctic Ocean a dangerous mistake.

The company can only drill during the brief Arctic summer, and it cannot drill for oil without an oil well capping device that’s on board the Fennica.

Shell is still moving its ships and equipment into the Arctic, even as one of its icebreakers prepares to head back south for repairs.