The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is inching closer to an oil and gas lease sale in the Cook Inlet offshore Alaska. The agency said it intends to publish an environmental impact statement (EIS) in the federal register on 23 October 2014 for Sale 244…
Cyprus-based Deep Sea Supply has won multiple contract awards with an international major subsea contractor covering about 1000 vessel days. The three paltform supply vessels of PX105 design Sea Spider, Sea Springer and Sea Spark have been awarded contracts for ten…
The US Department of the Interior has opened its new five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore oil and gas leasing plan to public comment, the agency announced on 13 June 2014. DOI said the publication in the federal register of…
The US Federal Aviation Administration announced approval for the first commercial drone flights over land in the US and the start of operations in Alaska earlier this week. BP plc signed a five-year contract to use drones for its oil operations in Alaska…
In early April, Rosneft and ExxonMobil began aerial gravity-magnetic surveys over offshore blocks in the Yuzhno-Chukotsky licence area in the eastern Russian Arctic to establish the subsurface structure of the field. As part of a framework agreement…
Shell has appointed Houston-based consulting firm, Endeavor Management to advise the supermajor in preparation for a possible revamp of Shell's Chukchi Sea drilling campaign. Endeavor said it will provide support and advice for a third…
Shell quits Alaska: Royal Dutch Shell will discontinue its 2014 plans for drilling offshore Alaska. Shell’s U-turn on Alaskan drilling follows a profit warning and a court judgment, raising “substantial obstacles” to the company’s plans for drilling in the Chukchi Sea…
Royal Dutch Shell has said it will quit its 2014 plans for drilling offshore Alaska, cut capital spending, and increase the pace of assets sales, the oil major’s CEO Ben van Beurden (pictured) announced today. Shell's U-turn on Alaskan drilling follows a profit warning last week and…
A US court ruling has put a key document supporting oil major Shell's Chukchi Sea drilling in doubt. Over one partial objection, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (CA9, panel based in San Francisco) ruled that selection by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management…
E&P majors BP and Statoil presented their views on future exploration prospects in the Arctic. Meg Chesshyre reports. Representatives from BP and Statoil discussed both the challenges associated with and future plans for developing Arctic…
Plans for arctic exploration and development continue apace—but will there be resources available? Elaine Maslin reports. The size of the arctic offshore challenge is significant, both in scale and complexity, with relatively little activity carried out to date…
The National Snow & Ice Data Center, based at the University of Colorado in Boulder, issued a news release stating that preliminary data indicates that on 13 September, Arctic sea ice reached its likely minimum extent for 2013. NSIDC…
TGS has commenced acquisition of a 2D multi-client survey in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska. The Chukchi Sea 2D 2013 survey covers about 8,000km and builds on the existing Chukchi Sea (CSR-06) survey acquired in 2006 in…
ConocoPhillips paused its 2014 Alaska Chukchi Sea drilling program, saying it would not be practical to make monetary commitments given uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements and operational permitting standards.
Royal Dutch Shell announced it will pause its exploration drilling activity for 2013 in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to prepare equipment and plans for a resumption of activity at a later stage. “We’ve made progress in Alaska, but…
