The plan was submitted Thursday to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement. Shell had announced its intentions last week.
Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said the company remains hopeful the agency will approve Shell's Chukchi exploration plan.
But he said the agency must resolve a court case that challenged the federal government's environmental review before lease sales in 2008.
Shell has spent more than $3.5 billion in Alaska for outer continental shelf drilling, including $2.1 billion for Chukchi leases, but has drilled no new wells because of court challenges or its inability to obtain permits.
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