Shell Gives Up On Arctic Drilling

Decision comes on heels of Portland showdown over the Fennica.

By Coby Hutzler

Two months after a standoff in Portland, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is abandoning Arctic drilling.

Drilling at a site called the Burger J well in Alaska's Chukchi Sea, Shell found that the region's yield was far less than anticipated, and decided operations in the region aren't worth the cost in a glutted oil market.

"Shell will now cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future," the company said in a statement released today.

That Arctic drilling operation was the target of Greenpeace activists, who in July delayed the departure of the icebreaker Fennica by dramatically dangling themselves beneath the St. Johns Bridge. The protest garnered international media attention, though it only briefly delayed the ship.

The withdrawal is a closing whimper in a nearly seven-year saga that began when Shell first bid on drilling leases for the site back in 2008.

As WW reported last month:

The New York Times reported this morning that Shell spent more than $7 billion on Arctic drilling.

Willamette Week

Coby Hutzler

Coby Hutzler

When he’s not busy neglecting his section’s marijuana plant, News writer Coby Hutzler writes about whatever he can, including the environment and energy. After working as News editor at the Portland State Vanguard, Coby moved to Baker City, Ore. for a Charles Snowden internship at the Baker City Herald. He’s at WW after spending a year “finding himself.”

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