Shell may have abandoned its hopes of hitting oil in the Arctic this year, but the company is now cleared to do preparatory work in the Beaufort Sea. The U.S Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement gave Shell the go-ahead today to drill a pair 1,500-foot boreholes in Alaska’s northern waters. They’re already doing similar work in the Chukchi.

According to spokesperson Curtis Smith, these casings will serve as the foundation for Shell’s exploratory program next summer.

“If you consider the amount of time it takes to drill a well completely -- and that means into hydrocarbons -- this tophole work we’re doing now gets us about halfway there and puts us in a great position for 2013,” says Smith.

In addition to preparing the two casings, Shell is authorized to create a “mudline cellar” in the Beaufort -- a space below the seafloor that can hold a blowout preventer.

While the BSEE may have given Shell the okay to start drilling topholes in the region, the company still has to wait for the subsistence whaling season to end before it can do any work. The company only has until the end of October wrap up its program.