(20.2.) The Department of Interior‘s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced the rules, which aren‘t yet final. Brian Salerno, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, said the rules would help ensure Arctic resources „are developed safely and responsibly.“(…)
Shell is the only company with immediate plans to drill in the U.S. Arctic. But the Obama administration recently announced it intends to include areas of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in future lease sales. The Department of Interior estimates reserves of 21.5 billion barrels of oil and 93.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas under the two seas.