Chukchi

ExxonMobil Corp. plans to formally withdraw from what were expected to be lucrative Russian oil and gas partnerships because of U.S. sanctions.

The State of Alaska has asked to intervene in a lawsuit that environmental groups filed last May against the Trump administration for possibly opening the Beaufort and Chukchi seas to offshore oil and natural gas leasing.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said an executive order (EO) signed by President Trump last month in support of offshore energy development, including oil and gas, will have a negligible cost impact to the federal government.

Alaska’s two Republican senators have introduced a bill that calls for conducting lease sales in the state’s offshore areas of the Beaufort Sea and Cook Inlet, and would reverse a decision made during the waning days of the Obama administration to withdraw leasing areas of the Arctic’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

President Obama’s decision to place the entire Chukchi Sea and most of the Beaufort Sea off-limits to energy development is “stunning” and will deny economic opportunity, according to a trio of powerful elected officials, all of them Republican, representing Alaska.

The Department of Interior (DOI) said Royal Dutch Shell plc’s misfortunes in the Arctic served at least part of the basis for a new final rule governing offshore oil and gas exploration by floating vessels in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. But critics say the new rule will hamper development by making it even more expensive to drill there.

About one month after Royal Dutch Shell plc and other producers collectively abandoned millions of acres of leasehold in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, Spain’s Repsol SA has joined the exodus, relinquishing nearly 100 federal leases it acquired at auction in 2008.

After spending billions and waging legal battles for years, Royal Dutch Shell plc is abandoning all but one leasehold in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea and is evaluating its Beaufort Sea holdings, citing an “unpredictable” regulatory environment and poor initial drilling results. ConocoPhillips and two other operators also have dropped hundreds of leaseholds in the frigid waters.

After spending billions and waging legal battles for years, Royal Dutch Shell plc is abandoning all but one leasehold in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea and is evaluating its Beaufort Sea holdings, citing an “unpredictable” regulatory environment and poor initial drilling results. ConocoPhillips and two other operators also have dropped hundreds of leaseholds in the frigid waters.