The inglorious end to Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $7 billion search for oil in Alaska means billions of barrels of crude will probably remain locked away in Arctic waters from the U.S. to Russia -- at least as long as prices remain near $50 a barrel.
Shell abandoned exploration off Alaska for the “foreseeable future” on Monday after it failed to find meaningful quantities of oil or natural gas. In Russia, sanctions over Ukraine have halted partnerships aimed at exploring offshore in the Arctic, while exploration in Greenland has been on hold since 2012 and activity in Norway is slowing.
The news of Shell’s departure from its Arctic offshore project has been greeted by a mixture of nodding heads, wrinkled brows, and, in some quarters, elated arm-waving.
Last week, I was in a small tent on the vast Greenland ice sheet with a leading British glaciologist investigating and documenting the alarming rate of ice flow and melt as a result of climate change.
As oil major Shell pulls out of its Arctic campaign off the coast of Alaska, Energy Voice looks back over the past year. The company said it would cease exploration activity in the region for the “foreseeable future”, amid high costs and a “challenging and unpredictable” regulatory environment. Take a look at our gallery below.
High Arctic Energy Services sad its chief financial officer has stepped down from the business.
Ken Olson will remain with the firm until his replacement has been appointed.
Shell has pulled out of offshore drilling in the Arctic, in a decision labelled an “unmitigated defeat” for oil companies by environmentalists opposed to the exploration.
The company is abandoning exploration off the coast of Alaska after failing to find sufficient signs of oil and gas to make further exploration worthwhile.
The company said it would cease exploration activity in the region “for the foreseeable future”, blaming high costs associated with the project and a “challenging and unpredictable regulatory environment”.
Shell’s decision to pull out of drilling in the Arctic should be a turning point in the fight against climate change, green campaigners have said.
Environmentalists also called on the company, which recently left the high-profile Prince of Wales’ Corporate Leaders’ Group on climate change amid the Arctic drilling controversy, to set out how it was going to move its business model to one that was compatible with curbing global temperature rises.
Campaigners fear an oil spill from Arctic offshore drilling could be very damaging to the environment and exploiting the region for fossil fuels would undermine efforts to tackle climate change.
Shell has pulled out of controversial drilling off the coast of Alaska after failing to find sufficient signs of oil and gas to make further exploration worthwhile.
Oil exploration in the Kara Sea in the Arctic is unlikely to restart before 2020, according to reports.
The news comes following a Russian Energy Ministry presentation this week.
Last year Rosneft was forced to suspend drilling in the region after its partner ExxonMobil withdrew from the project because of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
Barack Obama crossed the Arctic Circle in a first by a sitting US president, telling residents in a far-flung Alaska village their plight should be the world’s wake-up call on global warming.
His visit to Kotzebue, a town of some 3,000 people in the Alaska Arctic, was designed to snap the country to attention by illustrating the ways warmer temperatures have already threatened entire communities and ways of life in Alaska.
He said, despite progress in reducing greenhouse gases, the planet is already warming and the US is not doing enough to stop it.
A team of Norwegian scientists have collected unique seismic data that is being hailed as one of most important Arctic Ocean references for years to come.
Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft has brought its second well into production at its Arctic Prirazlomnoye field, with output totalling 1,800 tonnes per day.
The chief executive of Shell has revealed he embarked on a “personal journey” before making the final decision to resume drilling in the Arctic this year.
Ben Van Beurden said he was aware of the risks the company were taking but believed Shell could responsibly explore for hydrocarbons in the Arctic.
His comments to a BBC programme on climate change were made as former BP chief executive Lord Browne – who was also interviewed – warned the company could be taking both reputational and financial risk with the move.
Lord Browne made the comments as Shell announced it had just started preliminary drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea after several setbacks.
Oil giant Shell is said to have ended its ties with the market lobby group the American Legislature Exchange Council (ALEC).
The company said the move was as a result of their climate change stance being “inconsistent” with their own.
A spokesman said:"While we engage with a number of organisations on selected, and often complex, energy topics, we don't always agree on every position adopted by these organisations.
Russia has submitted its bid for vast territories in the Arctic to the United Nations.
It is claiming 1.2 million square kilometres (more than 463,000 square miles) of Arctic sea shelf, the Russian foreign ministry said.
Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to hold up to a quarter of the planet’s undiscovered oil and gas.
Environmental campaigners have begun a month of protests over oil giant Shell’s efforts to drill in the Arctic with a Titanic-themed orchestral performance.
Greenpeace is holding protests outside Shell’s London headquarters against the company’s attempts to undertake oil drilling in the Arctic, which the campaigners warn could lead to environmental disaster and worsen climate change.
The protests began with a performance of Requiem for Arctic Ice, an orchestral piece inspired by the famous story of the musicians continuing to play as the Titanic sank after it hit an iceberg, by the Crystal Palace Quartet and supporting musicians.
Shell has been given approval by the US Department of Interior to carry out limited offshore drilling in the Arctic.
The decison comes amidst strong opposition from environmental groups who fear a potential oil spill in the region could have a lasting impact.
The oil major will not be able to begin drilling until it has all necessary hardware in place to proceed as well as necessary safety measures.
The Obama administration dealt a setback to Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic oil exploration plans on Tuesday, saying established walrus and polar bear protections prevent the company from drilling with two rigs simultaneously at close range, as it had planned.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued Shell a permit which emphasized that under 2013 federal wildlife protections, companies must maintain a 15-mile (24-km) buffer between two rigs drilling simultaneously.
The rule is meant to protect populations of animals sensitive to sounds and activities of drilling. Walruses have been known to plunge off rocks into the sea during drilling, putting some at risk. The animals are already at risk from reduced habitat due to global warming.
U.S. Coast Guard and police boats cleared a way through protesters in kayaks at a Seattle-area port on Tuesday so a drilling ship could head for the Arctic on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell.
The Noble Discover is the second drilling ship Shell has sent to the area in recent days.
The activists, who have staged frequent demonstrations during the past two months against Royal Dutch Shell's oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea off mainland Alaska, had taken to the waters just beyond the Port of Everett north of Seattle where the oil rig launched for sea.
The US has issued a permit which allows Shell to resume its oil exploration off Alaska’s Arctic coast.
The permit, which approves Shell’s ability to disturb marine mammals, was granted in the wake of a Greenpeace protest targeting the company’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration signed off on a permit which allows noise from air guns, icebreaking, drilling and anchor handling.
The move is in line with the Department of Interior’s earlier decision which approved Shell’s general plan for its oil exploration in the area.
