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...

BBNC opposes offshore leasing, Pebble 12/20/2009
Native regional corporation says oil and gas leasing, mine development are too risky for fish-rich Bristol Bay; others fire back
A major stakeholder in the Bristol Bay region has come out against offshore oil and gas leasing in the North Aleutian basin. The Bristol Bay Native Corp. announced Dec. 11 its board passed a resolutio...

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...

Climate change legal impacts heat up 12/06/2009
U.S. legislation, regulation and litigation will all have far-reaching impacts on the Alaska oil and gas industry in coming years
In one sense it makes no difference who is right and who is wrong in the debate over the effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the Earth's climate: The legal fallout from a broad view...

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....

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...

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...

State of Alaska applies for FERC waiver 11/22/2009
Change would permit state to negotiate link between royalty gas and shipping capacity, easing royalty in-value to in-kind switches
State of Alaska oil and gas leases allow the state to take its royalty share - usually 12.5 percent - in-kind or in-value. Which means the producer can sell the oil or gas for the state and pay the st...

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...

Cosmo change OK 11/22/2009
DOG approves well workover and new schedule for appraisal well drilling
On Nov. 10 the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas approved Pioneer Natural Resources' proposed changes to the fourth plan of exploration for the joint state-federal Cosmopolitan unit, offshore the souther...

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...

Beaufort plan comment period extended 11/15/2009
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has for the second time extended the deadline for public comments on the Alaska Coastal Management Program consistency review of Shell's 2010 Beaufort Sea ex...

Watching for the ice in the Chukchi 11/08/2009
Modern satellite-based synthetic aperture radar technology is enabling the detection of sea ice in the dark and in cloudy conditions, thus greatly improving ice observation capabilities for ice manage...

Drilling mud-line cellars for OCS drilling 11/08/2009
A blowout preventer, a tall stack of valves and other devices designed to rapidly shut down a well in the event of an oil blowout, is an essential piece of safety equipment that has to be installed at...

A new Arctic paradigm 11/08/2009
Moving farther north in Arctic offshore stimulates drilling safety innovation
The potentially huge but largely untapped oil and gas resources of the Arctic offshore have become a major focus of attention, as access to new resources in traditional petroleum provinces has become...

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...