Confusion reigns over Arctic moratorium 12/12/2010
Court testimony presents contradictory views of whether or not DOI imposed an Arctic OCS drilling moratorium after Deepwater Horizon
The war of words over whether or not the U.S. Department of the Interior imposed a drilling moratorium on the Arctic outer continental shelf earlier this year is continuing in the United States Court...

The Explorers 2010: Alaska: A brave new world for explorers, producers 11/14/2010
A review of federal policy assaults on Alaska's economy and ramifications for oil and gas exploration and production
Shakespeare coined a phrase for Miranda in Act V of "The Tempest," when he wrote of a brave new world filled with good people. By Aldus Huxley's time other authors had used the term-mostly in positiv...

Calls for end to Arctic drilling freeze 10/17/2010
Lifting of 6-month moratorium on deepwater drilling doesn't include Alaska; state asks expedited hearing of suit against moratorium
With the Oct. 12 lifting of the six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska officials say it's also time to lift a suspension on shallow-water drilling in Arctic water...

IAEE, UAA host offshore drilling forum 09/19/2010
The Anchorage chapter of the International Association of Energy Economics and the University of Alaska Anchorage are co-sponsoring a public forum on the future of offshore drilling in Alaska. The fr...

Bush DOI chiefs: Major spill not expected 07/25/2010
Two former Interior secretaries told Congress July 20 they did not anticipate an accident as large as the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But Gale Norton and Dirk Kempthorne say no one else did ei...

Liberty not included 06/06/2010
Interior moratorium covers deepwater drilling; Shell Alaska delay separate
The new federal moratorium on deepwater drilling won't delay the Liberty project BP hopes to begin drilling this year from an existing island off the North Slope. "The deepwater moratorium does not ap...

Obama halts Alaska drilling until 2011 05/30/2010
Suspension of OCS drilling effectively kills Shell drilling in Beaufort and Chukchi Seas for 2010, state waters not impacted
The Obama Administration is suspending two planned exploration programs off the coast of Alaska until at least 2011 in the wake of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The suspension is part o...

Shell tells MMS about safety precautions 05/23/2010
In mid-May, following the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, Marvin Odum, president of Shell Oil Company, sent a letter to U.S. Minerals Management Service director Elizabeth Birnbaum...

Alaska congressional delegation backs Shell 05/23/2010
Alaska's congressional delegation favors Shell Oil's plan to explore for oil this summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, off Alaska's North Slope. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich and Rep. Don Y...