Bloomberg: Avoiding a state tax played a role in Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA)s decision to move a drilling rig from Alaska waters, though the company said the vessels grounding days later was the result of an unforeseen worsening of weather.
The Kulluk broke free from its tugboat in stormy seas on Dec. 31 and ran aground on an uninhabited Alaskan island, another embarrassment for a company that has spent $4.5 billion and seven years in pursuit of oil beneath the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in the Arctic...