A cursory look at rig, seismic and yard activity in the world is enough to deduce that there’s more happening in the Arctic than Greens tying themselves to seventh-generation drilling units.A judge may have blocked Alaskan drilling in coastal…
Russian oil company Lukoil has been given state approval for its new absorbent and biotechnology-based oil spill response technologies for Arctic regions. Lukoil says the technologies, on which it has taken out nine patents, have been designed…
The extent of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles outside Bouvet Island has now been clarified with the Continental Shelf Commission (CSC) in New York.The Commission’s recommendation is in line with Norway’s proposal submitted to the Commission in 2009 and revised in 2015…
U.K.-based international bank Barclays announced a new energy policy that significantly restricts the bank’s financing for the exploration or extraction of oil and gas in the Arctic.The policy rules out funding for companies seeking to drill…
A new oil spill response device capable of cleaning up spills in arctic conditions has been launched in an effort to bolster Norway’s spill preparedness.The new device, dubbed Arctic FoxTail, is a winterized version of H. Henriksen’s standard Foxtail vertical adhesion band (VAB) skimmer…
The European Union (EU)-funded 'Safe maritime operations under extreme conditions: the Arctic case' (SEDNA) project is developing ways to improve the design, operation, navigation and anti-icing features of ships traversing the harsh Arctic region…
The first regional mapping meeting for The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project has been held in Stockholm, covering the Arctic, Antarctic and North Pacific regions. The meeting, held last month, brought together ocean mapping experts…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) and Russian petroleum authorities (Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency, Rosnedra) have entered into an agreement to exchange seismic data from the areas around the demarcation line in the Barents Sea…
On the seafloor of the shallow coastal regions north of Siberia, microorganisms produce methane when they break down plant remains. If this greenhouse gas finds its way into the water, it can also become trapped in the sea ice that forms in these coastal waters…
US President Donald Trump signed executive orders today (28 April) to increase domestic energy production in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Planning area including the Chukchi Sea, Beaufort Sea, Cook Inlet, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic…
The US Senate has confirmed that Ryan Zinke will lead the Department of the Interior (DOI), nearly three months following the Trump administration’s nomination in December. Image of Zinke, from US House of Representatives…
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer more than 9000 blocks, spanning more than 48 million acres in the Central Gulf of Mexico (GoM) Lease Sale 247, which is the Obama Administration's final GoM sale in its five year program…
In his final month as US president, Barack Obama announced today (20 December) that he will ban offshore areas in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans from future mineral extraction. The decision comes one month after the Department of the Interior…
The US Department of the Interior (DOI) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the final plan for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease sales for 2017-2022, excluding areas in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the US Arctic…
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) and Russian petroleum authorities (Federal Subsoil Resources Management Agency, Rosnedra) have entered into an agreement to exchange seismic data from the areas around the demarcation line in the Barents Sea…
