Oil and gas major Shell will start oil rigging in the Arctic in the next two weeks.
Thirty ships have been deployed initially from the Dutch Harbor in Alaska to support two exploratory wells.
Shell has already earmarked $ 7billion for this largely controversial project.
There is also a possibility of Shell abandoning the project if the first two oil wells don’t yield oil.
With the approval of the US Interior Department already in the kitty, the oil giant expects to get other necessary permits within the next two weeks.
The first two wells are extremely shallow and only at the depth of 40 to 50m deep off the coast of Alaska.
Environmentalists have already flagged red due to expected damage to the environment.
But Shell has continued its efforts in oil exploration due to ever increasing energy demand in the world. The prices of oil have fallen to $ 65 a barrel and experts believe it may not be economically viable to explore oil in the Arctic anymore.
