Arctic Challenger

Arctic Challenger is a barge being converted by Superior Energy Services with oversight being managed by Greenberry Industrial at the Port of Bellingham in Washington state. It is being constructed by Shell Oil Company to serve as their "fourth line of defense" against a blow out in their drilling operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the Arctic that could result in a seafloor oil gusher. “We are committed to having the Arctic containment system in place before drilling through liquid hydrocarbon zones, and that commitment will not change,” Kelly op de Weegh said. “We are nearing completion of this first-of-its-kind Arctic containment system, which houses response, containment and separation processes in one vessel. While it’s a fourth line of defense in the unlikely event of a loss of well control, it will not be deployed until it meets our high standards.”

A major component of the project is the Containment Dome which is designed to be lowered over the blowout to vacuum up the spewing crude oil and natural gas and to deliver those products to the equipment on the ship for separation and processing to ameliorate the damage otherwise expected from a submarine blowout resulting from oil drilling.

The initial iteration of the containment dome had no markings on the structure to indicate which of 4 sides the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) was viewing nor which of 8 winches were needed to be activated in response to what was being viewed by the ROV during the test performed in tranquil conditions of the Salish Sea. There are ongoing investigations into the causes of the failure of these tests by the US House Natural Resources Committee as well as by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

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  Rebuilding of the containment dome at the Port of Bellingham by contractors of Superior Energy Services, Greenberry Industrial on behalf of Shell Oil Company.
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  The repaired and improved containment dome is hoisted onto the Arctic Challenger prior to leaving for testing.
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  The Arctic Challenger is towed by tugs Arctic Titan and Lindsay Foss out to the testing site just north of Samish Island in the southern end of Bellingham Bay.