Shell struggles to shut down 2nd North Sea leak (AP)

Oil co

Oil engineering consultant Steve earns 550,000 Australian dollars (US$560,000) a year and is seeing new graduates signed up for six-figure salaries. These pay rates, along with other rising costs the oil industry cannot control, are sharpening its focus on mass production methods, clever supply deals and investment in innovation. “For oil and gas executives, the need for operational excellence has never been greater,” says industry consultants Bain & Co in a March 1 study on costs.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc will not drill for oil in Alaska’s Arctic seas this year, the company said on Wednesday, in a widely expected decision that follows a series of high-profile setbacks in 2012. Both critics and supporters of Shell’s controversial Arctic offshore foray welcomed its decision to give up on drilling there for 2013, while the company tries to get its drillships ready and answers to U.S. federal investigators.

Secondary spill pumping about two barrels of oil into the water each day