JUNEAU, Alaska–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Shell Oil announced it will cease further exploration for oil in the Arctic Ocean after coming up dry at the Burger prospect in the U.S. Chukchi Sea. The company’s efforts have cost it billions of dollars and created significant controversy. Shell’s last efforts to operate in the Arctic in 2012 led to a series of mishaps, fines, government investigations, and, most famously, the grounding of the drill rig Kulluk.
In response to the announcement, Oceana’s deputy vice president for the Pacific, Susan Murray, issued the following statement:
“The future of the Arctic Ocean just got a little bit brighter. With this pipe dream ended, we can now stop arguing about Shell and focus on moving forward. As President Obama saw first-hand, there are many challenges in the Arctic region, and we can use this opportunity to address changing climate and the need to protect and conserve important ocean resources. Shell’s announcement today allows the government to take a step back to apply careful planning, precaution, and science to forge a sustainable future for the Arctic.”
Oceana is the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans. Oceana wins policy victories for the oceans using science-based campaigns. Since 2001, we have protected over 1.2 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. More than 600,000 supporters have already joined Oceana. Global in scope, Oceana has offices in North, South and Central America, Asia, and Europe. To learn more, please visit www.oceana.org.