COP ConocoPhillips

By Amy Harder 

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday issued final regulations governing future oil and natural-gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean that will require extensive contingency plans to ensure companies could swiftly contain any potential oil spill.

The regulations for the frigid, isolated offshore region were first proposed in February 2015. No companies are currently trying to tap oil or gas in the area and, because of a protracted slump in oil prices around the world, none have any immediate plans to do so.

Last September, Royal Dutch Shell PLC abandoned its $7 billion plan to drill in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off Alaska's Northern coasts after finding just trace results of oil and gas in an exploratory well it drilled last summer. That venture was among the company's largest, most high-profile and expensive exploration projects. ConocoPhillips and Statoil ASA also recently abandoned leases they had owned in the Arctic.

Energy industry executives have cited a mix of low oil prices and protracted regulatory processes as reasons for not pursuing Arctic drilling.

Global crude oil prices have been hovering between $40 and $50 a barrel for the past couple months, after hitting a low around $30 a barrel earlier this year, according to federal data. Oil traded over $100 a barrel in 2013 and 2014.

Write to Amy Harder at amy.harder@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 07, 2016 15:54 ET (19:54 GMT)

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