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Shell may abandon Arctic drilling indefinitely

Screen Shot 2014-12-19 at 15.36.47By John Donovan

Royal Dutch Shell is expected to announce by March if it will go forward with plans to drill for oil in Arctic waters offshore Alaska in 2015, a decision which may have more to do with the outcome of court cases and U.S. government reviews than global market fundamentals.

Shell’s decision is widely seen as a potential turning point for the company’s long-range Arctic plans, with billions already spent and rival companies putting their own Arctic drilling plans on hold; if Shell does not pursue drilling off north Alaska in 2015, it may abandon the region indefinitely.

Chevron says it is canceling plans to drill for oil in the Beaufort Sea in Canada’s Arctic because of economic uncertainty in the industry as oil prices fall. In a letter to Canada’s National Energy Board, CVX said it withdrew from a hearing into Arctic drilling rules because it is delaying indefinitely any plans to drill in the EL 481 block. ConocoPhillips and Statoil have both put an indefinite hold on their own Arctic drilling plans.

The above information is extracted from these Seeking Alpha articles

Chevron cancels plans to drill in Canada’s Beaufort Sea

Platts: Oil prices seen as minor factor in Shell’s 2015 Arctic decision

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