Shell says it will abandon oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic.

[Blue_In_AK]

Woo-hoo!


http://www.adn.com/article/20150927/shell-says-it-will-abandon-oil-exploration-alaska-arctic

Royal Dutch Shell will cease exploration in Arctic waters off Alaska's coast following disappointing results from an exploratory well backed by billions in investment and years of work.

The announcement was a huge blow to Shell, which was counting on offshore drilling in Alaska to help it drive future revenue. Environmentalists, however, had tried repeatedly to block the project, and welcome the news.

Shell found indications of the oil and gas in the well in the Chukchi Sea about 80 miles off Alaska's northwest coast, the company said Monday in a release from The Hague, Netherlands. However, the petroleum was not in quantities sufficient to warrant additional exploration in that portion of the basin, the company said.

"Shell continues to see important exploration potential in the basin, and the area is likely to ultimately be of strategic importance to Alaska and the U.S.," said Marvin Odum, president of Shell USA, in the announcement. "However, this is a clearly disappointing exploration outcome for this part of the basin."

Shell will end exploration off Alaska "for the foreseeable future," the company said.

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[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. ALL RIGHT!

That is most welcome news!

[Warpy]

2. It's a delay, not a stop

because they'll be back when oil prices spike up again. Right now, it would cost too much to get what's there out of the ground and shipped to a refinery.

As soon as they can make their bucks, they'll be back drilling those leased areas.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Ah, you're probably right, damn it.

At least it does give the wilderness a reprieve, even if it's only a brief one.

[DFW]

4. When....and IF.....oil prices spike back up again.

Here in Germany--with predictable opposition from energy companies--the rush toward renewable energy is going full speed. Merkel took a bold step of saying no more nuclear power when she saw what happened in Fukushima. Without nuclear, there was only oil or renewables. Europe is too densely populated for fracking to be safe (actually so are Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas, but that's not Germany's problem). So: it's wind and solar here. I know a well-off guy in his seventies who bought a great old house out in the boonies (in Germany, that means 20 minutes outside of town). He built solar panels on his land big enough to power everything but his car. He didn't need to, but he told me "SOMEbody has to start." He's right.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. The leases will expire

and they'll have to start over. I like that they wasted $7 billion.

Shell's decision to cease offshore Arctic exploration affects both the Chukchi and the Beaufort. Its leases in the Chukchi are scheduled to expire in 2020 and most of its Beaufort leases are scheduled to expire in 2017...

[Sunlei]

6. we're better off buying the cheap oil from russia, they have a big glut and need the money

even if it goes through some Russian buddie 'middleman' it will still be cheaper than drilling more.

or there are always those south American countries whose entire economy was based on oil sales.

Shell could become the middlemen oil wholesalers and leave our Arctic seas to become fishing renewable seas and an excellent NEW ice free shipping zone.

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Alaska's economy is also largely based on oil,

and we're taking a terrible hit right now, but I'm hopeful that this will be the incentive the state needs to branch out into new revenue streams. We still have fish and tourists. We just need one more leg for our "three-legged stool."

[Sunlei]

9. still the check for every man,woman & child in Alaska is $2,000? this year. All Americans

should have a Corp. check, they've profited so much off us.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Yes, this may be the last year that we get dividends this large.

You probably know that the dividends are paid out of the investments profits, and luckily for us, the stock market has been doing quite well the past five years. There's talk now of capping the dividends at $1,000 in coming years and using the difference to help fund government, leaving the corpus of the fund alone. People aren't too keen on the idea since our legislators are a bunch of spendthrifts who can't be trusted, but it seems inevitable that our "rainy day" for which the fund was initially established is here. The founders of the fund knew that the oil wouldn't last forever.

[Suich]

7. Great news, Blue!

Some friends were part of the "kayak brigade" when the Polar Pioneer was here for repairs.

Great news all around, for everyone!

[F4lconF16]

11. Was that in Seattle?

It was quite the sight to see the hundreds of kayaktivists out on the water to protest the big rig they had harbored here!

This is huge news, glad to hear it!

[Suich]

12. Yup!

One was a friend from Tacoma...never been in a kayak in his life. He borrowed one and was out there paddling with the rest of them!

[Blue_In_AK]

13. Thank your friends

from this Alaskan "greenie tree hugger."

[Enthusiast]

14. Wow! Fantastic!

[NV Whino]

15. Good news!

[malaise]

16. Heard this on NPR a short while ago

Great news

[Javaman]

17. and when the price of oil goes back up...

will they still be singing that same song?