Shell won't drill offshore in Alaska Arctic this year

http://www.adn.com/2014/01/30/3298785/shell-abandons-plans-for-alaska.html



Royal Dutch Shell's CEO Ben Van Beurden speaks during a press conference to give detail on the group's 4th quarter 2013 results in London, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2014. In Shell Oil's latest setback in the United States, the company's new CEO has said the company won't drill in the Arctic circle off Alaska's shore in 2014, and may never do so. The decision by Ben van Beurden follows a negative Federal court decision last week. Environmentalists are still challenging whether the government's 2008 decision to open the area to exploration was correctly granted in the first place.

Shell won't drill offshore in Alaska Arctic this year
By Sean Cockerham
Daily News Washington bureau
January 30, 2014

WASHINGTON -- Royal Dutch Shell is abandoning hopes of drilling in the Arctic waters off Alaska this year, the latest blow to the company's effort to exploit huge potential in the petroleum-rich but sensitive region.

The decision came as Shell reported a steep drop in earnings and its new CEO announced plans to restructure operations to improve the company's cash flow.

CEO Ben van Beurden cited last week's court ruling that threw offshore Arctic oil leases into question. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with environmental and Alaska Native groups that the federal government had underestimated how much oil drilling would happen when it sold the leases in 2008.

Van Beurden told investors that the ruling raised "substantial obstacles" for Shell's plans in Alaska waters.