By Liz Ruskin, APRN: May 10, 2016
Shell is giving back all but one of its leases in the Chukchi Sea.
The announcement comes seven months after Shell said it was halting exploration in Alaska’s offshore Arctic for the foreseeable future.
Gov. Bill Walker calls the news “disappointing.”
Michael LeVine, Pacific senior counsel for the conservation group Oceana, says the lease-surrenders underscore Shell’s exit.
“They’re significant because they really call to an end this era of exploration, at least in the Chukchi Sea,” he said.
To Oceana and other anti-drilling groups, Shell’s decision shows industry can’t make offshore drilling work in the Alaskan Arctic if companies are held to high safety standards. They say it’s a sign the federal government should not include the Arctic in its next off-shore leasing plan.
Sarah Erkmann, manager of external affairs for the trade group Alaska Oil and Gas Association, sees other contributing factors.
“Uncertainty comes at a cost,” she said. “And frankly, the companies have decided that low oil prices, combined with having no idea what … the federal government will require in the future, are just too expensive and are unsustainable in this low-price environment.”
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith cited high costs and an “unpredictable” regulatory environment, but also the poor results from Burger J, the sole test well it completed in its $7 billion Arctic program.
Shell paid more than $2 billion for its Chukchi leases. To keep them, the company would have to pay about $40 million in rent over the next four years, by Oceana’s calculations. Shell will retain its lease to the Burger J site, which Smith says will allow it to keep proprietary data.
Shell says it’s still evaluating whether to retain its leases in the Beaufort Sea. But the company will, quite literally, pull up stakes this summer. The spokesman says Shell will return to the Arctic to retrieve 55 anchors it left on the floor of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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.
