The US government has announced new curbs on oil and gas exploration in Arctic waters off Alaska’s northern coast.
It comes after oil giant Royal Dutch Shell last month stopped its Arctic activity citing “disappointing” tests.
The US interior department said it was cancelling two potential Arctic offshore lease sales and would not extend current leases.
The announcement has been welcomed by environmentalists.
Miyoko Sakashita, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the decision was “great for the Arctic and its polar bears”.
“We need to keep all the Arctic oil in the ground,” she said.
US government leases are due to expire in the Beaufort Sea in 2017 and in the Chukchi Sea in 2020.
“In light of Shell’s announcement, the amount of acreage already under lease and current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement.
Shell has spent about $7bn (£4.5bn) on Arctic offshore development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
However, last month it announced it had not found sufficient amounts of oil and gas in the region to warrant further exploration.
It said it would end exploration off Alaska “for the foreseeable future”.
Correspondents say the Arctic is a risky and expensive place for oil companies to explore, and the current low price of oil makes it even less attractive.
The US Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic holds about 30% of the world’s undiscovered natural gas, as well as 13% of its oil.
However, environmental groups say offshore drilling will pollute and damage a natural wilderness.
They also argue that fossil fuels such as oil and gas must be left in the ground if the world is to avoid runaway climate change.
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
