Production on ice in the Arctic

Projects are moving glacially, if at all

DRILLING in the Arctic was always a tough sell on environmental grounds, even when the economics looked like they could stack up with oil above $100 a barrel. Now, at less than half that price, who really wants to plough billions into an Arctic frontier drilling campaign, even if they are allowed to? That’s not to say that governments or companies are ruling it out once and for all. The Obama administration cancelled sev­eral US Arctic leases last October but said in March 2016 that two of them, one each in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, north of Alaska, could be auctioned in the future as part of its five-year offshore plan. Explorers won’t be holding their breath. The White House has aband