A natural gas and oil fortune has been abandoned offshore of British Columbia (BC) after Chevron Corp. and ExxonMobil retired Pacific seabed drilling rights following decades of successful environmental opposition.

Chevy

The integrated producers voluntarily gave up exploration licenses to an area rated as harboring up to 40 Tcf of natural gas and 10 billion bbl of oil by the Geological Survey of Canada. The withdrawals removed industrial defendants from a protest lawsuit in BC.

The announcement followed talks with the federal government, said Chevron Canada President Christopher Mazerolle in explaining its retirement of 19 drilling permits on 5,700 square kilometers (2,280 square miles) offshore central BC.

“Chevron is continually assessing its portfolio and has been in...