Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Shell calls off its multibillion-dollar mission in Alaska's Arctic

Royal Dutch Shell is walking away from dreams of offshore oil in Alaska's Arctic after coming up dry on its $7 billion test well in the Chukchi Sea. Citing high costs, disappointing results and an “unpredictable” regulatory environment, Shell announced Monday that it’s giving up and leaving Alaska for the “foreseeable future.” Politicians quickly cast blame on the federal government and the Obama administration for sandbagging the regulatory process, slowing progress until it was no longer worth the trouble for Shell. The company's ambitious plans for Alaska may not be completely dead, but it’s unlikely that any Shell drilling will happen in the state’s Arctic waters anytime soon. "Shell continues to see important exploration potential in the basin, and the area is likely to ultimately be of strategic importance to Alaska and the U.S.,” said Marvin Odum, director of Shell Upstream Americas, while acknowledging a “clearly disappointing” outcome to exploration...more

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