Shell is throwing in the towel on it's risky Arctic Drilling operation after disappointing results from its exploratory wells and the plunging price of oil on the world market.
Shell Exits Arctic as Oil Slump Forces Industry to Retrench
By CLIFFORD KRAUSS and STANLEY REED
As oil prices have continued their steady decline this year, rig after rig has been shut down, costing thousands of jobs in the United States. Yet major oil producers have been loath to pull the plug on their most ambitious projects — the multibillion-dollar investments that form the backbone of their operations.
Until now. On Monday, Royal Dutch Shell ended its expensive and fruitless nine-year effort to explore for oil in the Alaskan Arctic — a $7 billion investment — in another sign that the entire industry is trimming its ambitions in the wake of collapsing oil prices.
The announcement was hailed as a major victory by environmentalists, who had fought the project for years, only to be stymied by pressure inside and outside the industry to increase domestic oil production.
Last week some Senate Democrats weighed in.
Senate Dems tell Obama to end Arctic drilling
By Timothy Cama
Some Senate Democrats are once again asking President Obama to end oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
In a letter Friday, 12 senators asked Obama to block any additional drilling after Royal Dutch Shell wraps up its exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea, northwest of Alaska, this fall.
They also press Obama to explain how Arctic drilling fits within his climate policies, a question they said he has failed to answer thus far.
“You have stated many times that America must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and build our capacity for clean, renewable energy,” the Dems wrote.
“Allowing Shell to expand fossil fuel drilling in the Arctic is incompatible with this imperative and with your commitment that the United States will lead the global effort to address climate change.”
They also cited the risks of an oil spill to the wildlife, natural resources and nearby native communities as further reasons to stop drilling.
The Polar Pioneer is towed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.