- The Obama administration will decide soon whether to grant Royal Dutch Shell’s (RDS.A, RDS.B) request for extra time to hunt for oil in Arctic waters, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said yesterday.
- Without action, Shell’s oil and gas leases in the Beaufort Sea will begin expiring in 2017, followed by its drilling rights in the neighboring Chukchi Sea two years later; the same fate awaits Chukchi Sea leases sold in 2008 to Statoil (STO) and ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP), which have made similar appeals for more time, citing regulatory uncertainty, legal challenges and other obstacles.
- The companies’ bids for “suspensions of operation” would effectively stop the clock ticking on their 10-year leases.
- STO and COP have no active plans to drill in U.S. Arctic waters, but Shell is preparing to resume exploration in the Chukchi Sea this summer.