Arctic

A coalition of environmental groups and individuals opposed to fossil fuels is urging the Obama administration to stop leasing public land — both onshore and offshore — for energy development, including for oil and natural gas.

A plan to revive arctic gas and oil drilling in deep Canadian waters of the Beaufort Sea ground to a halt Friday.

A plan to revive arctic gas and oil drilling in deep Canadian waters of the Beaufort Sea ground to a halt Friday.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) gave conditional approval Monday for a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc to explore Alaska’s Chukchi Sea and drill up to six offshore wells, after concluding a 30-day review of the project.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gave conditional approval Monday for a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc to explore…

Unconventional drilling in the Lower 48 has revitalized U.S. natural gas and oil production, but it’s time to explore abundant reserves in Alaska, where an existing reserve base of 920 Tcf and 38 billion bbl of liquids awaits development, the National Petroleum Council (NPC) said Friday.

After surviving the shale gale, the aborted northern pipeline race and the 2008-2009 recession, the vision of Arctic wealth awaiting drilling beneath Canadian waters of the Beaufort Sea is also outlasting the current natural gas and oil price slump.

Proposed regulations issued Friday by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) would add to and revise rules for Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and natural gas drilling activities that mobile offshore drilling units and related operations use during the open-water drilling season.

Arctic gas and oil hunters have been spared having to conduct environmental assessments twice on their plans to return to Canadian waters of the Beaufort Sea.