Arctic drilling has made headlines since the announcement of Shell’s 2015 summer drilling campaign. Paired with the low oil prices due to a surplus of supply, many people wonder why we even need to drill in the Arctic when there is so much oil right now…
Shell is ceasing further exploration offshore Alaska after the company's Burger J prospect failed to prove oil, resulting in a multi billion dollar write-down. The Transocean Polar Pioneer “Shell…
Shell disconnected the Noble Discoverer drillship from its anchors in the Chukchi Sea after weather temporarily put a halt to its Arctic operations over the weekend. The Noble Discoverer. From Shell Flickr…
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has given Shell final approval to drill into deeper into hydrocarbon-bearing zones at its Burger J prospect in the Chukchi Sea, off Alaska, in the US Arctic. “After extensive review and under a robust array of safety requirements…
Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week announced it had submitted a revised bid claiming 1.2 million sq km of Arctic sea shelf to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The country's previous bid in 2002 were rejected for lack of evidence…
The Transocean Polar Pioneer semisubmersible officially began Shell’s US$1 billion Arctic drilling program in the Chukchi Sea on 30 July. The Polar Pioneer. From Transocean. Drilling operations began at Shell’s Burger J prospect…
Shell’s arrival in the Chukchi Sea came with limitations from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) that allows the supermajor to begin drilling, but not into oil-bearing zones just yet. The Noble Discoverer…
Six autonomous, self-propelled robotic crafts that collects ocean meteorological and natural resources data, were deployed in the Barents Sea on 1 July. The crafts collect a wide range of information such as wave height, current speed and direction…
The Fennica icebreaker vessel that Shell planned to use as part of its Chukchi Sea drilling operations had to return to Dutch Harbor in Alaska to undergo repairs after its hull was breeched, Finland-based Arctia Offshore reported today (7 July)…
The US Coast Guard (USCG) reported that the Noble Discoverer drillship has left the Port of Everett, Washington, in the early morning hours of 30 June, and is now Arctic-bound. Thus bringing Shell closer to its Chukchi Sea drilling season…
API encouraged congress and regulators to prioritize Arctic offshore oil and natural gas development as the House Natural Resources Committee prepared to hold a hearing on Arctic energy today (16 June). “Arctic oil and natural gas…
Thirteen activists in kayaks intercepted Shell's drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer, in Seattle's Puget Sound as the rig prepared to depart for the Arctic as part of Shell's US$1 billion Arctic exploration and drilling program. Kayaktivists…
Shell is on the brink of Arctic exploration after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) approval of the US supermajor’s oil spill response plan (OSRP) on 11 June. The Noble Discoverer…
A total of 12 groups are challenging the US Department of Interior’s (DOI) decision to reaffirm the 2008 Chukchi Sea lease sale that will allow oil and gas drilling in a nearly 30 million acre area of the Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf (OCS)…
With a mean estimate of 23.6 billion bbl of undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, the Arctic could be one of the last big finds. Heather Saucier examines what is at stake on the US side. Source…
