Chukchi air permit takes Shell closer to 2010 drilling program 01/17/2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Jan. 7 decision to propose an amended air quality permit for Shell's planned exploration drilling in the Arctic Alaska outer continental shelf of the Chukchi...

Olgoonik, UIC to support Shell operations 01/10/2010
Shell is partnering with Olgoonik Corp., the Native village corporation for the Chukchi Sea coast village of Wainwright, and Ukpeaegvik Inupiat Corp., the Native village corporation for Barrow, to ope...

Time to take a stand on climate change? 01/10/2010
Alaska legislators want information to determine a strategy on responding to climate change actions and the use of the ESA in AK
The stakes are high and the rhetoric climbing in the debate between those who want to apply the Endangered Species Act for the protection of wildlife potentially threatened by a warming climate, and t...

EPA proposes approving Shell air permit 01/10/2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposes to approve an air quality permit for Shell's planned exploration drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conser...

New Chukchi lawsuit schedule proposed 01/03/2010
The plaintiffs and defendants in an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska against the February 2008 Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf oil and gas lease sale have filed a propo...

Shell goes for reduced OCS footprint 01/03/2010
Macrander says using advanced technologies to minimize environmental impacts makes business sense and protects the Arctic offshore
The use of advanced technologies that reduce environmental impacts and improve business efficiency distinguishes Shell in the oil and gas industry, Michael Macrander, Shell's Alaska lead scientist, to...

New briefing schedule for Chukchi lawsuit 12/27/2009
Plaintiffs and defendants in an appeal in U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska against the February 2008 Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf oil and gas lease sale have agreed to establish a...

State intervenes in Beaufort Sea litigation 12/27/2009
The State of Alaska has filed a motion to intervene in an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope...

Groups sue to stop Beaufort Sea drilling 12/20/2009
A group that helps manage Eskimo whaling in Alaska has sued to halt petroleum drilling proposed next year in the Beaufort Sea by a subsidiary of Shell Oil. The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the...

Fugro wraps up Shell survey in Chukchi 12/13/2009
News reports that the U.S. offshore division of Fugro GeoServices has successfully completed the fieldwork portion of a shallow hazards survey in Alaska's Chukchi Sea for Shell EandP were confirmed Dec....

Shell's Chukchi exploration plan gets conditional MMS OK 12/13/2009
The Minerals Management Service has conditionally approved Shells' proposed Chukchi Sea outer continental shelf 2010 exploration plan. But it's basically approval for data gathering - drilling won't...

DOI still reworking lease sale assessment 12/06/2009
The U.S. Department of the Interior is still reworking its environmental analysis for its 2007-12 program of oil and gas lease sales on the outer continental shelf of the Beaufort Sea, the Chukchi Sea...

Wood Mac: EandP spend to recover in 2011, flat in 2010; Conoco's Alaska budget uncertain 12/06/2009
Wood Mackenzie predicts investment in the world's upstream oil and gas sector will grow modestly in 2011, reaching around $350 billion by 2012, down from a five-year peak of $370 billion in 2008 when...

ACMP review of Shell's Chukchi plan out 11/29/2009
The Alaska Coastal Management Program review of Shell's 2010 Chukchi Sea drilling plan is out for public comment, with comments due on or before Dec. 22 and a final determination to be issued by Jan....

Conoco won't explore this year in Alaska 11/29/2009
Company focusing on preparing for Chukchi drilling in 2012; development drilling at Kuparuk, Alpine down; focus on maintenance
ConocoPhillips Alaska is changing its exploration focus and looking to the Chukchi Sea, Helene Harding, the company's vice president of North Slope operations and development, said Nov. 18. Harding t...

Projecting the jobs 11/29/2009
AEDC CEO Bill Popp works with Petroleum News and Mining News on new project forecast
Like one of Scrooge's Christmas apparitions, a ghost of Alaska's future could portend doom, or could just prove to be a warning of the consequences of not taking appropriate action. And from the persp...

Oil Patch Insider: Miscommunication delays Chukchi drilling decision; Fire Island wind farm still a go 11/29/2009
Nov. 20 came and went without an eagerly awaited decision by the U.S. Minerals Management Service on Shell's 2010 exploration plan for the Chukchi Sea - a decision that MMS now says will be forthcomin...

Parnell: ESA for species 11/29/2009
Governor tells RDC ESA not land-use planning tool; budgets for ESA attorney
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell gave a clear indication of focus resource issues for his administration when he opened the Resource Development Council's 30th annual conference in Anchorage Nov. 18. The gov...

Cooperation the key 11/29/2009
Mayor Itta spells out North Slope Borough expectations for OCS policy
As summer sea ice recedes and marine habitats change under the influence of a warming climate, the rapidly evolving situation in the Arctic is creating a situation where a wide variety of different gr...

Plaintiffs eye Shell Chukchi drilling 11/22/2009
The Native village of Point Hope, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope and 12 environmental organizations, plaintiffs in an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska against th...

Icy spill easier to clean, scientists say 11/22/2009
Research funded by oil interests conflicts with conventional wisdom, based on research done in Barents Sea above northern Europe
Scientists funded by Shell and six other oil companies say that cleaning up oil spills in Arctic ice is in many respects easier than cleaning it from open water. The reason, they said Nov. 17, is tha...

Statoil opening Alaska office, plans Chukchi seismic shoot 11/22/2009
Statoil USA EandP is looking for office space in Anchorage to house the company's first Alaska-based employee, Karin Berentsen. Berentsen, who will be moving to the state from Norway in January, is work...

Oil Patch Insider: A Boone worth Pickin'? Shell denies asking for decision delay; Enstar still upbeat on bullet line 11/22/2009
Canadian investors are being given a chance to find out just how shrewd T. Boone Pickens is in reading future trends in the energy industry. The one-time corporate raider and promoter of an energy pla...

The Explorers 2009: Shell 11/15/2009
Shell's recent exploration history in Alaska is best measured in potential. Since returning to the state in 2005, lawsuits have kept the Dutch major from drilling, but it continues to refine its landh...

The Explorers 2009: BP Exploration (Alaska) 11/15/2009
BP Exploration opened its first office in Alaska in 1959, and drilled a confirmation well for the Prudhoe Bay discovery a decade later. Today it operates the unit and its participating areas and satel...