The chance of finding fossil fuels in the US Arctic has been accepted as a nonstarter. Royal Dutch Shell has accepted that their 10-year search for oil was not a great success. It has walked away from all projects except one of the leases it has near to the north-west coast of Alaska.
At the end of 2015, plans for drilling in the Chukchi Sea were stopped and no new plans to start again have been devised. Barack Obama has also stopped new leases and cancelled some in place. This, however, does not mean that drilling offshore is coming to an end.
Work will continue in the Gulf of Mexico and the production of gas and oil there is increasing. With 5,000 or more active gas and oil leases in that area alone and around 70% deep-water drilling, the future seems brighter. The figures have been produced by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).
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BOEM is working on the last details for the 5-year plan it has for leasing areas that will be good for oil production leading up to 2022. Ten new leases in the Gulf have been proposed, and when it comes to carbon, it is believed to be the worlds’ 8th largest reserve. Unless the President changes the plan, drilling will continue.
It has been asked why drilling is stopping in the Arctic yet expanding in the Gulf. The infrastructure plays a large part alongside the amount of new funds available. The only blot on the landscape is the increase in protesters demanding drilling is stopped.