Biden Bans New Offshore Drilling in Arctic Bering Sea Ahead of Incoming Trump Administration Following new measures by President Biden much of the U.S. waters around the Bering Strait are now off limits to oil and gas exploration. The ban will likely prove difficult to reverse though upcoming President Trump promised to “unban” it on day one.
Dangerous Waters: Ukraine War Could Divert Oil Shipments from Black Sea to Arctic Ocean A looming tanker war in the Black Sea as part of the larger Ukraine conflict could elevate the strategic importance of Russia’s Northern Sea Route. The country has begun sending regular oil shipments to Asia via the Arctic; and additional volume could be re-routed that way, experts say.
Russian Oil Shipments Via Arctic Accelerate With Four More Tankers Now En Route to China Transit traffic on Russia’s Northern Sea Route could reach all-time highs this summer as Russia continues to dispatch crude oil tankers to China via the Arctic. In less than a month six vessels have departed for the country.
Russia Reroutes Arctic Oil To China and India as Result of EU Sanctions EU sanctions against Russian oil increasingly divert Arctic crude oil – from the Prirazlomnoye platform and the Arctic Gate and Varandey terminals – to China and India with three vessels currently en route from Murmansk to China. For 2023 experts anticipate increasing oil exports to Asia via the Northern Sea Route.
Equinor Exits Final Russian Project The Norwegian energy group is the first to exit Russian assets fully after the invasion of Ukraine.
Court Decision Stops Trump’s Attempt to Allow Arctic Drilling The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ended the dispute over former President Trump’s attempt to open up for oil and gas drilling in 128 million acres of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.
Halts Seismic Surveys for Oil in Alaska’s Arctic Refuge The company proposing to survey parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's coastal plain missed a deadline for its plan to protect polar bears during the survey.
Last Minute Push by Trump Administration to Open Up Arctic Refuge to Oil Drilling In an effort to open up Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration - a long-stated goal of President Trump and many Republican lawmakers, the outgoing administration announced a last-minute push to sell leases in early January.
The Political Oil Decisions Resemble A Rave Party with High Drug Factor Commentary: There is something highly symbolic about the Norwegian parliament, Stortinget, yesterday choosing to close its doors when seeking an explanation for the NOK 200 billion Equinor collapse in the USA. Coincidentally, that happened at the same time as news broke that the Norwegian Ministry of Oil and Energy a few years ago manipulated its way into opening southeastern parts of the Barents Sea for oil exploration.
Seattle City Council Takes a Firm Stance Against Arctic Drilling, Weakens Indigenous Rights in the Process The council just passed a resolution, largely in the name of indigenous rights, boycotting any corporation that purchases a drilling lease for the ANWR coastal plain from the U.S. Department of the Interior. But policy analyst and indigenous rights expert Heather Exner-Pirot sees the measure as misguided and inappropriate.
Op-ed: Quo vadis Arctic? The European Union and its Northern Neighbourhood The EU’s Arctic endeavour has certainly not produced any resounding success; however, despite concerns about its legitimacy in the Arctic, the EU has, and will continue to have, a large role to play in its Northern Neighbourhood, say researchers Andreas Raspotnik and Andreas Østhagen in this op-ed.
