"The federal agency overseeing offshore drilling in Alaska says the worst-case scenario for a blowout in the Chukchi Sea lease could result in a spill of more than 58 million gallons of oil into Arctic waters.

That's about a quarter of the Deepwater Horizon spill, which put 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But it's far more than Shell Oil — the major leaseholder in waters off Alaska's northwest coast — says it could handle under its current response plan.

When applying for exploratory permits, Shell was required to prepare for a maximum spill of 231,000 gallons per day. The company says its fleet of on-site responders — including boats, barges, skimmers, and a tanker that can hold 21 million gallons of recovered liquids — can handle a spill of 504,000 gallons per day."

Dan Joling reports for the Associated Press April 27, 2011. [2]