Oil and gas companies are set to ramp up production in the Arctic by 20 per cent in the next five years, according to a new report shared with City A.M. this morning. The main Arctic expansionists – Gazprom, Total and ConocoPhillips – are backed by hundreds of billions of pounds from dozens of City banks and investors, despite many holding commitments to restrict fossil financing in the region, Paris-based think tank Reclaim Finance claimed this morning. The report details £230 billion of loans and underwriting from commercial banks to Arctic oil and gas expansionists between 2016 and 2020, including numerous key players from the City. JPMorgan Chase was the biggest investor with $18.6 billion, followed by Barclays ($13.2 billion), Citigroup ($12.2 billion) and BNP Paribas ($11.8 billion). Investors are further holding around $272 billion in Arctic fossil developers as of March of this year, with BlackRock ($28.5 billion), […]