What does the ongoing North Sea oil spill say about Shell’s plans to open up the Arctic, where an accident would be all but impossible to clean up?

Personally, it seems to me that if Shell can’t get it right in the supposedly ultra-safe North Sea then there’s no reason to think they’d be able to manage it in the freezing Beaufort Sea. As Shell continues with plans to drill in the Arctic waters off Alaska next year, these are precisely the sort of question it must answer.

By a quirk of fate this week people have the opportunity to do just that - by taking part in the company’s “Developing Arctic resources safely and responsibly” web chat on 18^th August.

I’m sure it will be make enlightening listening and we want as many people to get involved as possible. You can register to take... Read more >

Today Cairn Energy published the latest operational update for its risky oil drilling off Greenland and the news, at least for the wildcat oil company, was far from good.

For the second year in succession Cairn has announced it has found no oil in the Arctic.

The company has been forced to plug and abandon its well in the deep water Lady Franklin block in the Davis Strait, a major setback for Cairn and the rest of the oil industry who see the melting ice caps as business opportunity.

It has also temporarily abandoned the well at the Atammik site to move operations further north to open up two new drill sites. whilst still refusing to make its near-mythical oil spill response plan public.

Its share price has taken a hammering, falling nearly 4% today and 13% in the last month. So... Read more >

Yesterday, the UK’s wildest wildcat oil company, Cairn Energy, received the news it has been waiting for when the Greenland Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) gave final permission for the company to start its 2011 Arctic drilling programme in Baf... Read more >