Arctic

A revival of offshore drilling in the Arctic has emerged as an industrial user for a “roads-to-resources” development that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper launched this week on the Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories (NWT).

The search for natural gas and oil in ever more remote regions is drawing more prospectors to the U.S. Arctic Ocean, which includes Alaska waters, but there aren’t enough safeguards in place to ensure accidents can be managed, according to The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The state of Alaska last week took the next step toward going it alone to find out how much oil and gas lies beneath the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) after an offer to partner with the federal government on the effort was rebuffed by the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI).

America’s “shale revolution,” combined with increased Gulf of Mexico oil production, the potential for major deposits in the Arctic, and growth in tight and heavy oil, including oilsands, makes North America’s energy picture much brighter than it was not that long ago, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser said recently at the Chief Executives Club of Boston.

America’s “shale revolution,” combined with increased Gulf of Mexico oil production, the potential for major deposits in the Arctic, and growth in tight and heavy oil, including oilsands, makes North America’s energy picture much brighter than it was not that long ago, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser said recently at the Chief Executives Club of Boston.

The next three months will average colder than normal across much of the northern United States, with arctic air expected to be a “frequent guest in [the] largest gas-demand population centers,” said forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI).

The next three months will average colder than normal across much of the northern United States, with arctic air expected to be a “frequent guest in [the] largest gas-demand population centers,” said forecasters at Andover, MA-based Weather Services International (WSI).

The chief of Imperial Oil Ltd., which has been spearheading an effort to build the Mackenzie Gas Project (MGP) to transport natural gas from Canada’s Arctic region, isn’t ready to throw in the towel despite the slump in prices and pressure from shale gas resources. It’s all about the long term, he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the final air quality permits necessary for Shell Oil Co. to conduct oil and gas exploration drilling in Alaska’s Arctic region. In August the U.S. unit of Royal Dutch Shell plc was awarded conditional approval by the Department of Interior to drill up to four exploratory wells over two years in the Beaufort Sea, where it has invested more than $3.5 billion in leases and predevelopment. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement said Shell may begin exploring the area in July 2012 once it obtains required permits (see NGI, Aug. 8). Shell said it is “still pursuing permits and authorizations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service” and “later in the process, we will file our applications for permits to drill, largely considered the final permitting steps before drilling commences.”