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...

Salazar ends first year vowing reforms 01/10/2010
US Interior Secretary says he'll announce reforms in how energy leases issued on federal lands, how endangered species protected
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar started on the job a year ago pledging to clean up an agency hit by scandals and assailed by critics as under the sway of the oil and gas industry. Starting his second y...

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...

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...

NSB not part of suits against MMS 12/20/2009
The North Slope Borough said Dec. 15 that it has opted to continue to work with Shell and agencies on the company's Beaufort Sea exploration plan, and will not join lawsuits filed in the wake of feder...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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: Lower Cook Inlet risk, potential 11/15/2009
The lower Cook Inlet basin contains as much as 36,000 feet of marine Mesozoic strata. In this area the Tertiary sequence that contains the oil and gas reservoirs in the upper Cook Inlet becomes very t...

The Explorers 2009: Alaska Peninsula and North Aleutian basin 11/15/2009
The North Aleutian basin, also known as the Bristol Bay basin, extends more than 200 miles along the north side of the Alaska Peninsula and out into the southern Bering Sea shelf. The southeastern por...

Shell puts Burger at top in Chukchi 11/01/2009
Company want to drill up to three wells in three prospects, but known Burger gas pool will get priority treatment in 2010 program
With $105 million placed on the table at the Chukchi Sea lease sale in February 2008 for just one of the tracts around the old Burger well, some 80 miles offshore the western end of Alaska's North Slo...

MMS has Shell's Chukchi plan under review 10/25/2009
The Minerals Management Service said in an Oct. 20 letter to Shell Offshore Inc. that it has reviewed the company's 2010 exploration drilling program for the Chukchi and will make a decision within 30...

Massive OCS feedback 10/25/2009
NOAA, Natives oppose much of 2010-'15 leasing plan; drillers, lawmakers endorse
A key scientific agency is advising the Obama administration against oil and gas leasing in large portions of the nation's Outer Continental Shelf. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...

OK for Shell plan 10/25/2009
MMS approves Beaufort Sea 2010 drilling if permitting requirements met
On Oct. 19 Shell passed another major milestone in its multiyear quest to start exploration drilling on Alaska's Arctic outer continental shelf, when the U.S. Minerals Management Service approved the...

New OCS leasing plan draws mixed state, local reviews 09/27/2009
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell among supporters of proposed Alaska sales in 2010-2015, but others fear for Bristol Bay fisheries, Arctic wildlife; Sen. Begich has some concerns
Voices pro and con sounded strongly as the federal government closed out public comment Sept. 21 on its proposed 2010-15 Outer Continental Shelf leasing program. In Alaska, much of the passion centere...

Arctic Directory: MMS recognizes Exxon for safety excellence 09/20/2009
The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service announced March 25 that Exxon Mobil Corp. is one of the winners of the 2008 District Safety Award for Excellence for the Gulf of Mexic...

Fishing port favors North Aleutian sales 09/20/2009
Unalaska council backs offshore leasing provided MMS protects fisheries, but proposed 2011, '14 sales have ample opponents
The Unalaska City Council on Sept. 8 passed a resolution supporting proposed federal offshore oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian Basin. Unalaska Island is home to Dutch Harbor, the nation's lea...

Out for review 09/06/2009
DNR posts Shell Beaufort Sea exploration plan; Company says it intends to drill in Torpedo and Sivulliq prospects in 2010
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has released Shell's new Beaufort Sea plan of exploration for public review, as part of a consistency determination for the Alaska Coastal Management Program...

The winds of change in Arctic Alaska 08/30/2009
Politicians seek views on future Arctic policies in the face of climate change, industrial development and environmental protection
As the Arctic warms, the summer sea ice retreats and evolving weather patterns disrupt communities in northern Alaska, opinions on how to respond to the changes sweeping across the northernmost part o...

Court upholds Beaufort sale decision 08/30/2009
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has upheld a January 2008 decision by the U.S. District Court in Alaska, rejecting an appeal by the North Slope Borough and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Comm...

Going major on the OCS 08/23/2009
Shell opts for major air quality permits for its Alaska offshore drilling operations
After several years of unresolved litigation over minor air quality permits that Shell had obtained from the Environmental Protection Agency for planned exploration drilling in the Beaufort Sea, offsh...