Obama Administration Issues Final Arctic Drilling Regulation
July 07 2016 - 4:20PM
Dow Jones News
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 16:05 ET (20:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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