The Arctic

Shell ended frontier offshore exploration drilling operations in Alaska in 2015 and continues to have no active operations in frontier offshore exploration or production projects north of the Arctic Circle.

We hold interests in a small number of exploration licences in Arctic areas of the USA, Norway and Russia. We also hold a number of other licences from our previous activities in the Canadian Arctic, although we do not have plans for further development of these licences.

We do not plan to pursue new oil exploration leases offshore in the Arctic Circle.

As elsewhere, we integrate safety, environmental and social considerations, alongside management of political, commercial and technical risks, into our decision-making process.

In 2020, Shell Exploration and Production West-Siberia B.V. formed a joint venture with Gazprom Neft to carry out exploration activity in two onshore licence areas on the Gydan Peninsula in Russia. The activity is being carried out in accordance with relevant technical, environmental and social standards. We also received regulatory approval in Alaska to combine our near-shore leases in West Harrison Bay, which we ultimately plan to divest after seeking a partner and transferring operatorship.