Category: Arctic

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chair of the Senate energy committee, says the White House is in part to blame for decisions made by major energy companies to leave Alaska offshore programs behind. File photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Nov. 18 (UPI) — It’s the president’s fault that another major energy company has folded up its tent and left Alaska behind, the chair of the Senate energy committee said. Norwegian energy company Statoil announced it was abandoning its leases in the Chukchi Sea and closing its offices in Anchorage, Alaska. Statoil’s decision followed a similar move by Royal Dutch Shell. "I am very concerned that, for the second time in as many months, a major company has decided to walk away from Alaska because of the uncertainty surrounding our federal government’s support for Arctic development," U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski , R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural […]

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Despite a series of setbacks off the coast of Alaska, Shell said it’s eager to protect its leases and assets in the region. Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Oct. 29 (UPI) — Despite regulatory and exploration setbacks for the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska, Royal Dutch Shell said it was keen on protecting its regional assets. The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement in August awarded Shell with one permit to start drilling an exploration well into oil-bearing zones in the Burger prospect in the arctic waters off the coast of Alaska. A federal study of the Burger prospect from 2004 described it as likely the largest reserve pool of its kind off the Alaskan coast Last month, Shell said it found evidence of oil and natural gas in its Burger exploration well, but not enough to warrant […]

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During this week’s special session in Juneau, most lawmakers have been focused on whether the state should take a larger stake in the Alaska LNG project, which would build a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope. But on Monday afternoon (Oct. 26), the Senate Resources Committee met to hear about another crucial, if little-discussed issue: if you tap the state’s supply of natural gas, you’ll end up with less oil. Cathy Foerster of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, put it this way: “Taking the gas from an oil field…before all the oil has been produced, will – will , all caps – cause some of that oil to be lost,” Foerster said. “That’s not my opinion. That’s not somebody’s prediction…When you take the gas out of an oil field, and there’s oil still left, some of that oil is unrecoverable. Period.” That’s because the natural gas […]

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Investigators into the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the US Gulf of Mexico often lament the failure of Congress to pass any meaningful safety-related measures informed by the lessons learned from the tragedy. But make no mistake — the ripples of Deepwater Horizon have been felt by the industry and can be clearly seen in the decision of Shell to abandon its offshore Alaska exploration as well as the canceling of Arctic lease sales for the remainder of the current US five-year leasing plan. The Macondo Effect, if you will, can also be seen in more subtle ways, as a close reading of the recent 300-plus page final consent decree between BP and federal and state governments reveals. Shell’s decision to indefinitely suspend exploration offshore Alaska may have been sparked mainly by the disappointing results from the one well spud in the Chukchi Sea. But the company made it […]

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Interior Department says it will not extend Arctic offshore leases held by Royal Dutch Shell and other companies in Arctic waters off Alaska’s northern coast. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says she’s also cancelling new lease sales tentatively scheduled for the next two years. The decision significantly reduces the chances for future Arctic offshore drilling. Shell announced Sept. 28 it would cease exploration in the Chukchi (chuk-CHEE’) and Beaufort seas after spending upward of $7 billion on Arctic exploration. The company cited disappointing results from a well drilled in the Chukchi and the unpredictable federal regulatory environment. Federal leases in the Beaufort Sea are due to expire in 2017 and in the Chukchi in 2020. Jewell says that in light of Shell’s announcement, it doesn’t make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half.

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The U.S. Interior Department on Friday said it would cancel two potential Arctic offshore lease sales after Royal Dutch Shell PLC ( RDSa.L ) said that it was not interested in those leases. "In light of Shell’s announcement, the amount of acreage already under lease and current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement. Shell said last month it was giving up its Arctic search for oil after failing to find enough crude oil. (Reporting By Patrick Rucker; Editing by Sandra Maler )

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