The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is naming Shell as being ultimately responsible for the grounding of the Kulluk ice-class mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) in 2012 offshore Alaska, due to the company’s inadequate assessment of the risk for the towing…
Shell’s Executive Vice President, Arctic, Ann Pickard discussed the supermajor’s investment and current challenges facing its Arctic exploration program at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston on 5 May 2015. In the summer of 2015…
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) granted conditional approval of Shell’s multi-year exploration plan for the Chukchi Sea today (11 May). The approval comes after what the agency described as a “comprehensive review.” Last month…
Shell released this video outlining its safety efforts for Arctic exploration. The company received conditional approval for its exploration plan in the Chukchi Sea on 11 May 2015. Shell is planning to spend US$1 billion to explore the Arctic…
The US Department of the Interior (DOI) is reviewing Shell's Arctic drilling plans, according to a recent Reuters report. On 31 March, DOI issued a record of decision affirming Shell’s Arctic leases from the Chukchi Sea OCS oil and gas lease sale 193 from 2008…
According to the United States Geological Survey, the area above the Arctic Circle holds approximately 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and an estimated 1,670 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas…
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released proposed regulations for exploratory drilling activities on the US Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) concerning exploratory…
The Obama administration’s recently released draft proposed offshore oil and gas leasing program slams the door on industry and prevents America from sharing in the economic growth, new jobs and increased energy security that offshore oil and gas activity in new offshore areas would provide…
The US Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will offer 41.2 million acres for oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico under lease sale 235, which will be held on 18 March 2015 in New Orleans…
Shell has its sights set for Arctic exploration this year by spending US$1 billion, after being absent since 2012. Ben Van Beurden. From Shell. The supermajor announced in its 4Q 2014…
The US Department of the Interior today (Tuesday) announced details of a proposed oil and gas leasing program for 2017-2022. US Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell (pictured, right, with President Obama) and Bureau of Ocean Energy…
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) that predicts a higher exploration and production scenario than before for the Chukchi Sea Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193…
Gazprom Neft, the fourth largest oil producer in Russia and the subsidiary of Gazprom, may consider the possibility of suspension of implementation of several projects on the Russian shelf, due to sanctions, imposed on Russia. Alexander Dyukov…
Shell has asked 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. In a letter to the Interior…
Major oil and gas companies have several challenges to face when it comes to operating in the Arctic. Won Ho Lee and Piotr Szalewski, both DNV GL principal engineers, discussed some of these challenges at the company’s annual Technology Week last month…
