Repsol, a Spanish oil company which owned a significant portion of the drilling leases for Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, abandoned 55 of them last week and plans to drop the remaining 38 next year.
“Repsol is in the process of relinquishing its Chukchi Sea acreage position offshore Alaska,” Repsol spokeswoman Jan Sieving said in a statement.
The Spanish company joins the rush of oil drillers — Shell, ConocoPhillips, Eni, and Iona Energy — departing the Arctic region after concluding that offshore drilling is not worth the expense or the risk. After Shell spent over $4 billion attempting to develop offshore Arctic oil and completing just one exploratory well, it said it was done in the Chukchi “for the foreseeable future.” This was two years after Shell’s Kulluk rig ran aground and had to get rescued by the Coast Guard heading south attempting to avoid paying more taxes in 2013.
Apart from one token Shell lease block that the company is retaining to keep the information it gained from its failed 2015 exploratory well, Repsol’s leases were the last blocks remaining in the Chukchi.
“Last month we figured out that Shell and a bunch of other companies had given up their leases,” said Mike Levine, Oceana’s Pacific senior counsel, told ThinkProgress. “After eight years, billions of dollars, and significant controversy, we’re back to a clean slate in the Chukchi sea.”
Finally.
I always thought that drilling in the Chukchi Sea was incredibly risky to our environment and was very upset then President Obama gave Shell Oil a permit to start exploring for oil there in 2015.
However I seemed to have underestimated our President, which is something I swore I would not do again, and late in 2015 he refused to issue any more licenses and then sat back waiting for these companies to fail and give up, which they have now done.
So now the pristine environment of the northern Alaska sea appears to be safe.
At least for now. Assuming of course we can keep Republicans out of the White House.
hey Gryphen, what makes you think Obama didn't know the wells and eases were going to be abandoned. Me thinks this was part of his 15 level 4D chess game. he knew damned well research was winding down after failures, so it cost him NOTHING to approve those leases and gave the oil companies a "sop" they chose to abandon.
ReplyDeleteYou sell him short, yet again...
Pretty sure that's what I just inferred in the post.
DeleteGryphen 7:58 AM wrote: Pretty sure that's what I just inferred in the post.
DeleteI, your faithful reader, inferred it from your post. You, the writer, implied it in the post.
Similarly, when "A" gives something to "B" A donates it and B receives it.
Stop trying to make me smarter Powell. It interferes with my natural charm.
DeleteHahaha, your natural charm is only in your head. Your ego has gotten way out of control.
DeleteI learned early on that Obama was a master strategist.
ReplyDeleteI did not blow a gasket when he approved the Shell Oil permit ... I couldn't figure out his plan at the time, but I knew he had a good one.
It finally dawned on me when Shell pulled out OF Alaska, and I had a good laugh.
Obama's plan all along was to let them fail on their own, so that he nor the Democratic party would take the FALSE blame from the rethugs and FAUX NOISE.
Notice that when Shell pulled out there was nary a squeak from the right... and we all knew that OBAMA HAD OUTSMARTED THEM ONCE AGAIN !
Hey, I can see Russia in that graphic. And I'm not even on my front porch.
ReplyDeleteCan I build a bridge 🌉 from your porch to Russa? I promise it won't cost you anything 😉
DeleteHappy for you, Alaska.
ReplyDeleteI hope this starts the clean, renewable energy race. This is great news!
ReplyDelete