Barclays Rejects Arctic Drilling
for the exploration or extraction of oil and gas in the Arctic.The policy rules out funding for companies seeking to drill in the Arctic Refuge as well as other climate change threats.According to the British multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in London, arctic oil and gas refers to new exploration and extraction of oil and gas in the area within the Arctic Circle which is subject to sea ice, and includes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Coastal Plains.The ANWR is a particularly fragile and pristine ecosystem which is central to the livelihoods
LRAUV: Arctic Oil-Spill-Mapping Robot Put to the Test
As commercial shipping and energy activities picks up in the Arctic region, the prospect of accidental oil spills in this pristine environment remain a concern. In response, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking the lead – through the U.S. Coast Guard – to develop a subsea robotic system to map and report on spills.“Because of ice coverage and the tyranny of distance, it is difficult to get resources and assets up in the Arctic in a quick manner,” said Kirsten Trego, Executive Director of the Coast Guard’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil
Norway to Spend More Looking for O&G Near Russian Border
Russia's annexation of Crimea Norwegian officials have expressed concern about Russian military exercises in the region.Norway also fears that tensions between Russia and the West could have implications for Svalbard, which belongs to Norway but has become significant because of growing interest in Arctic oil and gas..Norwegian Petroleum Directorate said last year the area bordering Russia southeast of the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, which is not yet opened up for exploration, could hold 8.6 billion barrels of oil equivalents.The Directorate, which has previously conducted 2D surveys and drilled
Arctic Oil 'Undrillable' amid Global Warming -UN's Ex-climate Chief
An architect of the Paris climate agreement urged governments on Tuesday to halt oil exploration in the Arctic, saying drilling was not economical and warming threatened the environmentally fragile region.Christiana Figueres, formerly head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat when the Paris accord was reached by almost 200 nations in 2015, told Reuters by telephone "the Arctic has been rendered undrillable."The past three years have been the hottest since records began in the 19th century, and Figueres said the heat was a threat to everything from Australia's Great Barrier Reef to ice
Norway's Arctic Oil Plan Violates Constitution, Lawsuit Says
Norway's plan for Arctic oil exploration is unconstitutional because it violates the right to a healthy environment, a lawyer for Greenpeace and the Nature and Youth environmental group told an Oslo court on Tuesday. The case is the first of its kind in Norway and says a 2015 oil licensing round in the Arctic that gave awards to Statoil , Chevron and others violates the constitution. Norway signed the 2016 Paris accord, which aims to end the fossil fuel era this century. The country is Western Europe's largest oil producer and oil and gas are its most important exports. Government lawyers say
Arctic Oil Expansion Panned by Scientists
A group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked two U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday not to open the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The scientists, including several retired former officials from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, said in a letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington that drilling for oil and gas in the refuge would be "incompatible with the purposes
'Roomba' in the Arctic
R&D continues, focusing on improving the ice cutting functionality. He said the data collected during the Arctic tests is invaluable for further development. Without saying when, Bennett predicted that “the system, with a few minor adjustments, will be ready for market with regards to arctic oil spill response as the standard RotoX is already on the market.” Today, as in the post-Exxon Valdez and post-Macondo eras, there is a heightened state of awareness about environmental contamination in the undisturbed Arctic. This new awareness has propelled a quicker pace of research
Partners Advance Arctic Oil Spill Response Technology
Continually working to help improve oil spill response technologies, the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) presented details on its latest efforts at the Arctic Oil Spill Response Research and Technology Workshop on April 26. There, Bureau staff presented results of several BSEE-funded projects including the development of a submersible skimmer prototype for oil recovery in and around broken ice. “At the workshop, we all worked together to collectively understand the suite of response technology possibilities that are available today as well as
Obama Bans New Drilling off Alaska, Part of Atlantic Shore
that both our countries have put in place, the risks of an oil spill in this region are significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region's harsh conditions is limited." Canada will designate all Arctic Canadian waters as indefinitely off limits to future offshore Arctic oil and gas licensing, to be reviewed every five years through a climate and marine science-based life-cycle assessment. The law under which Obama is acting enables a president to withdraw certain areas from leasing or drilling "for any public purpose," such as to limit the impacts
February 2025
