Report from US environment group warns that ice, freezing temperatures and high seas would overwhelm any clean-up attempts
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
Thursday 11 November 2010 10.31 GMT
The Trans-Alaska oil pipeline. Photograph: Doug Wilson/Corbis
The next big offshore oil disaster could take place in the remote Arctic seas where hurricane-force winds, 30ft seas, sub-zero temperatures and winter darkness would overwhelm any clean-up attempts, a new report warns.
With the ban on offshore drilling lifted in the Gulf of Mexico, big oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell are pressing hard for the Obama administration to grant final approval to Arctic drilling. Shell has invested more than $2bn to drill off Alaska’s north coast, and is campaigning to begin next summer.