In asurprise annunciation , Shell has break it is to block oil and gas exploration off the Alaskan coast “ for the foreseeable future . ” Despite finding both fossil fuel , the “ disappointing ” results from an exploratory well drilled in the Chukchi Sea did not indicate there were sufficient quantities to rationalise continued drilling . The well will be capped and abandoned , to the delight of many environmental grouping that have strongly opposed any plans to exploit the oil and gas ground beneath the Arctic .
The major news come just under a calendar month after Shellreceived a final permitthat appropriate it to exercise the 2,070 metre ( 6,800 foot ) exploratory well needed to assess the exploitability of the substitute in U.S. waters . “ Shell continues to see significant geographic expedition potential in the washbasin , and the area is likely to ultimately be of strategical importance to Alaska and the U.S.,”saidMarvin Odum , theater director of Shell Upstream Americas . “ However , this is a clearly disappointing geographic expedition outcome for this part of the basin . ”
It seems that even after having invest an estimated$7 billion(£4.6 billion ) in the speculation , in the face of plunging oil prices , increasing political uncertainty and public imperativeness , Shell has decide to displume the plug . There had been mounting concerns about how the company would be able-bodied to reply to a major spill like that seen in the Gulf of Mexico , although the company continually maintain that they had decent refuge operation in seat to cope . Even so , environmental groups are enraptured by this latest turn of events .
“ Big oil has sustained an unmitigated licking , ” said Greenpeace U.K. executive director John Sauven in astatement . “ They had a budget of trillion , we had a movement of meg . For three years we faced them down , and the masses won . The Save the Arctic crusade has exacted a huge reputational price from Shell for its Arctic drilling programme . And as the company locomote another year without striking oil , that price finally became too mellow . ”
Shell was not the only companionship interested in tap the Arctic ’s rich deposits . Withan estimated30 % of the worldly concern ’s unexplored natural gas and 13 % of its oil color , many others are piercing to search the area . Most , however , have been hold back back by the slump in rock oil prices , which are now sit atunder $ 50a barrelful . When monetary value pick up , it ’s expected that the profitability of drilling in the Arctic will rebel consequently .
Main range : Charles Conatzer / sHellNo ! Action Council / Flickr CC BY 2.0
