The oil company has filed plans for offshore drilling but past safety blunders and operational failings in the region make it a high cost, high risk venture
Shell gave its clearest signal to date that the company will seek to resurrect its hitherto ill-fated US offshore Arctic drilling programme. In filing a new multi-year exploration plan last Thursday for the Alaskan Chukchi Sea with US regulators, the company keeps open the possibility of a return to the region as soon as summer 2015.
However, the matter is far from certain. Obstacles remain including the completion by regulators of a new environmental impact assessment required after a US appeals court decision halted drilling activity for 2014.