????去年三月，我有幸成為25年來(lái)登上殼牌公司（Shell）石油鉆井船庫(kù)魯克號(hào)（Kulluk）的第一位記者。現(xiàn)在，這艘鉆井船正身處阿拉斯加灣環(huán)保大戲的舞臺(tái)中心。

????庫(kù)魯克號(hào)是一艘圓形鉆井駁船，直徑266英尺，可容納100名工人在極端氣候環(huán)境下工作。我登上它的時(shí)候，它正在美國(guó)西雅圖進(jìn)行最后一次改裝，耗資2.92億美元。改裝完成后，它將部署在阿拉斯加北冰洋沿岸地區(qū)，同另外一艘一起，共同執(zhí)行皇家荷蘭殼牌公司（Royal Dutch Shell）去年夏天北冰洋沿岸的鉆探任務(wù)。殼牌公司的管理人員相信，庫(kù)魯克號(hào)與其姊妹船、諾布爾發(fā)現(xiàn)者號(hào)（Noble Discoverer）將在阿拉斯加廣袤的北部浮冰海域發(fā)現(xiàn)大型的新油田——?dú)づ乒鞠Ｍ@些油田能成為公司最大的原油來(lái)源。（參閱《財(cái)富》雜志2012年5月刊《殼牌緣何豪賭數(shù)十億美元開(kāi)采阿拉斯加原油》（Why Shell is betting billions to drill for oil in Alaska）一文）。

????不幸的是，惡劣的天氣迫使公司壓縮了去年夏天的鉆探計(jì)劃，而現(xiàn)在，大自然母親的報(bào)復(fù)嚴(yán)重打擊了殼牌公司從其在阿拉斯加50億美元投資獲得穩(wěn)定回報(bào)的希望。周一晚上，庫(kù)魯克號(hào)在穿越冬季風(fēng)暴被拖回西雅圖的途中，這艘鉆井船從拖繩上滑脫，擱淺在一座荒島上。即使沒(méi)有發(fā)生最壞的情況，裝有大約14萬(wàn)加侖的柴油和1.2萬(wàn)加侖的潤(rùn)滑劑的燃料艙內(nèi)完好無(wú)損，這次事故還是迫使殼牌公司將鉆探工作推遲一年。

????殼牌公司的開(kāi)采許可允許它配備兩艘鉆井船，以備井噴時(shí)其中一艘船可以用來(lái)開(kāi)鉆減壓井。殼牌公司計(jì)劃今年夏天恢復(fù)鉆探，但庫(kù)魯克號(hào)能否及時(shí)修好（前提是這艘船可以搶救回來(lái)的）尚屬未知；不太可能出現(xiàn)的情形的是，殼牌公司再找一艘鉆井船替代庫(kù)魯克號(hào)并為這艘船辦妥相關(guān)手續(xù)。與此同時(shí)，華盛頓的一些政客提出要進(jìn)一步遲滯——如果不能徹底叫停——?dú)づ频暮Ｉ喜捎晚?xiàng)目。“石油公司總是說(shuō)他們能征服北極，可惜北極并不這么認(rèn)為，”美國(guó)眾議院自然資源委員會(huì)（Natural Resources Committee）委員、來(lái)自馬薩諸塞州的民主黨眾議員艾德?馬基在周二的一份聲明上指出。“拓展鉆探海域?qū)θ绱嗣舾械沫h(huán)境來(lái)說(shuō)將是災(zāi)難性的。”

????Last March I became the first journalist in 25 years to board the Kulluk, the Shell oil-drilling ship now at the center of an environmental drama unfolding in the Gulf of Alaska.

????The Kulluk is a circular-shaped drilling barge, 266 feet in diameter, that is equipped to hold 100 workers and operate in extreme weather conditions. When I toured it, the Kulluk was docked in Seattle, undergoing the last of $292 million in modifications before being deployed to Alaska's Arctic coast. It was one of two Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) vessels set to commence exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean coast last summer. Shell officials believed the Kulluk and its sister ship, the Noble Discoverer, would find massive new oil fields underneath Alaska's icy, northern waters -- oil fields Shell hoped would some day become the company's biggest source of crude oil. (See Fortune's May issue: Why Shell is betting billions to drill for oil in Alaska)

????Unfortunately for Shell, bad weather forced the company to curtail last summer's drilling plans, and now Mother Nature has dealt an even harsher blow to Shell's hopes of getting a timely return on the nearly $5 billion the company has already invested in Alaska. On Monday night, as the Kulluk was being towed back to Seattle during a severe winter storm, the drilling vessel broke free from a tow line and ran aground on an uninhabited island. Even if a worst-case scenario were to be averted -- the Kulluk's fuel tanks, which hold an estimated 140,000 gallons of diesel and 12,000 gallons of lubricants, are apparently intact -- the accident could force Shell to shelve its Alaskan drilling for yet another year.

????Shell's drilling permits require it to use two drilling vessels, just in case one is needed to drill a relief well in the event of a blowout. Shell is supposed to resume drilling this summer, but it's unclear whether the Kulluk can be repaired in time for summer drilling (assuming the vessel is salvageable) and even less likely that Shell could find a suitable replacement for the Kulluk and secure the necessary permits for a new ship. In the meantime, some politicians in Washington are sure to demand another delay -- if not a complete halt -- to Shell's offshore plans. "Oil companies keep saying they can conquer the Arctic, but the Arctic keeps disagreeing with the oil companies," U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, said Tuesday in a statement. "Drilling expansion could prove disastrous for this sensitive environment."