Category: Arctic

ENLARGE The Hulahula River Canyon in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska in the summer of 2010. Photo: AlaskaStock/Corbis The Obama administration is moving this week to designate areas of Alaska off limits to oil and natural gas drilling in its latest effort to bolster its environmental legacy. The Interior Department announced on Sunday that it was proposing to preserve as wilderness nearly 13 million acres of land in the 19.8 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, including 1.5 million acres of coastal plains that is believed to have rich oil and natural gas resources. Later this week, the department also is slated to propose a draft offshore leasing plan that is expected to include more limits on future oil and gas production in Alaska. The efforts are drawing a strong rebuke from congressional Republicans. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) vowed to fight the administration’s moves from her positions […]

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When Statoil ASA (STL) acquired the last of three licenses off Greenland ’s west coast in January 2012, oil at more than $110 a barrel made exploring the iceberg-ridden waters an attractive proposition. Less than two years later, the price of oil had been cut by almost half and Norway’s Statoil, the world’s most active offshore Arctic explorer in 2014, relinquished its interest in all three licenses in December without drilling a single well, Knut Rostad, a spokesman for the state-controlled company, said by e-mail. Statoil’s decision shows how the plunge in oil, with Brent crude trading at about $45 a barrel, has dealt another blow to companies and governments hoping to tap the largely unexplored Arctic. That threatens to demote the importance of a region already challenged by high costs, environmental concerns, technological obstacles and, in the case of Russia , international sanctions. “At $50, it just doesn’t […]

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Energy group on Alaska questions why White House placed moratorium on oil and gas work in Bristol Bay. UPI/Charly Hengen, U.S. Coast Guard ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Dec. 17 (UPI) — Alaskan energy producers expressed dismay over a presidential decision to put the Bristol Bay off limits, though environmentalists lauded its stewardship. President Barack Obama issued a declaration that puts the Bristol Bay out of reach of oil and natural gas producers indefinitely. "This withdrawal prevents consideration of this area for any oil or gas leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or production," Tuesday’s declaration read. Kara Moriarty, president and chief executive officer at the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said she questioned the action’s wisdom given its indefinite term limit . "Although it might not be prudent today to consider oil and gas leasing in Bristol Bay, it is unclear why President Obama would choose to address this issue in […]

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4725 Votes Last month, the suits over at Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) put on their sad faces and went to the White House to ask for more time to burn through another billion or two. I tell ya, these guys are gluttons for punishment. After eight years and more than $6 billion, Shell has come up completely empty on its promise to bring a bounty of Arctic crude to market from the Chukchi Sea. The plan to tap this Arctic flow was devised more than a decade ago — before the U.S. was swimming in shale oil and before consumption rates started falling. Certainly I don’t fault management for moving aggressively on black treasure in the Arctic. At the time, it made a lot of sense. But today, with $80 crude, a boom in domestic oil and gas production, and little chance of ever successfully producing anything more than losses in […]

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Print Back to story Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is asking the Obama administration for five more years to explore for oil off Alaska’s coast, saying set backs and legal delays may push the start of drilling past the 2017 expiration of some leases. Shell, which has spent eight years and $6 billion to search for oil in the Arctic’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas, said in letter to the Interior Department that “prudent” exploration before leases expire is now “severely challenged.” “Despite Shell’s best efforts and demonstrated diligence, circumstances beyond Shell’s control have prevented, and are continuing to prevent, Shell from completing even the first exploration well in either area,” Peter Slaiby, vice president of Shell Alaska, wrote to the regional office of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Shell’s plans to produce oil in the Arctic were set back in late 2012 by mishaps involving a drilling […]

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