Analyses of Key Companies having Business Operations in the Arctic Extract of the report Climate Change in the Arctic April 2017 1 Main companies from key sectors in the Arctic Table 4 List of main companies from key sectors in the Arctic Shell, conoco, bp, noble energy, transocean Sector Company Logo Oil & Gas (19) Mining (10) Fishery (7) Others (3) 2 Analyses of Key Companies having Business Operations in the Arctic A. Oil and Gas Sector Royal Dutch Shell Climate change or carbon emission Main business activities reduction related initiatives within in the Arctic and beyond the Arctic • Shell owns 27.5% interest in Sakha- • Shell ended the offshore exploration lin-2 on the Sakhalin Island (Russia), drilling operations in Alaska in an integrated oil and gas project locat- September 2015. ed in a subarctic environment. • Shell works with Wetlands Interna- • In 2015, Shell has made drillings for tional to identify and assess critical oil and gas at the Burger J well habitats in the Arctic regions, develop- in the Chukchi Sea (offshore Alaska, ing a tool that predicts the distribution US ), but the discoveries were of Arctic species; and ever since 2006, insufficient to warrant further explora- it has funded a science programme tion in the area and the well was with the local governments of the Royal Dutch Shell deemed a dry hole. The well was North Slope in Alaska. sealed and abandoned in accordance HQ: The Hague, Netherlands with US regulations. • Shell and IUCN have been work- ing together since 2004 to minimise Ticker: • Shell has 18 state leases in the Beau- the impact on Western gray whales RDS/A fort Harrison Bay area in Alaska at Shell’s jointventure operations in Market Cap (USD mil.): (US ). (In 2016, it relinquished all but Sakhalin, Russia. 224,557 one federal lease in the Chukchi Sea and half of their federal leases in • Shell is a signatory of the United Na- URL: the Beaufort Sea. It concluded tions Paris Agreement on climate www.shell.com a commercial deal to transfer 21 Beau- change. fort federal leases to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. It also • Shell’s four main contributions to transferred operatorship of the reducing global GHG emissions are: remaining federal leases (Shell had supplying more natural gas to replace 40% interest) in the Beaufort coal for power generation (Shell Harrison Bay area to ENI). is one of the world’s leading suppliers of natural gas and liquefied natural • Shell has an onshore gas portfolio in gas (LNG )); progressing carbon cap- Alaska Foothills (US ), in which it ture and storage (CCS ) technologies; has 33% non-Shell-operated interest developing alternative energies; and along with Anadarko and Suncor. implementing energy-efficiency meas- ures. Shell’s overall GHG emissions decreased in 2016 for the following reasons: 3 • overall reduction in flaring; Gordon Murray Design. • quest carbon capture and storage • Solar and wind technologies - At project in Canada’s oil sands safely some offshore platforms in the North injecting more than 1 million tons of Sea, it uses solar PV and batteries CO2 per year; to provide 100% renewable power • divestments, for example in Nigeria generation, cutting costs, and reduc- and the UK; ing refuelling trips to the platforms. In • and operational improvements across 2001, Shell entered the onshore wind many facilities; business in the US A, and has interests in six operational wind power projects • Methane emissions - Shell has a in North America and one in Europe. In range of initiatives for reducing meth- 2016, the share of the energy capacity ane emissions: programmes to detect from these projects was about 420 and repair methane leaks and imple- megawatts (MW). mentation energy-efficiency measures, as well as flaring and venting reduc- Climate change or environment tion programmes. relatedcontroversies in the Arctic • Investments in research and devel- On 5 September 2013; the US Envi- opment (R&D) – In 2016, Shell ronmental Protection Agency (EP A) invested USD 1,014 million in R&D to announced the settlements with Shell improve the efficiency of Gulf of Mexico Inc. and Shell Offshore products, processes and operations, Inc., both subsidiaries of Royal Dutch and to develop new technology Shell Plc., for theviolations of the solutions for energy transition. Clean Air Act permits by vessels used for drilling two oil-exploration wells in • In 2016, Shell created a New Ener- Arctic waters off Alaska in 2012. EP A gies business to continue exploring documented numerous air permit vio- investment opportunities in areas lations for Shell’s drill ships Discoverer including biofuels, hydrogen and and Kulluk. Shell agreed to pay a USD renewable energy. 710,000 penalty for the violations of the Discoverer air permit and a USD • Buiofuels: Shell invests in new ways 390,000 penalty for the violations to produce biofuels from sustainable of the Kulluk air permit. feedstocks such as waste and cellulos- ic biomass from non-food plants. On 27 February 2013; Shell decided not to return to the Arctic in 2013 • In 2016, Shell unveiled an energy-ef- following two serious accidents with ficient city car called the Shell two drill ships while they were Concept Car, in collaboration with Geo leaving drilling sites in the Beaufort Technology and automotive engineers and Chukchi Seas in two instances 4 in 2012. The company allegedly ig- Prudhoe Bay Unit. nored the risks when it decided, in • The Point Thomson natural gas con- December 2012, to tow the rig out of densate project Alaskan waters, in part to avoid • Norman Wells marked the start of the millions of dollars in tax liability. quest for arctic oil and gas. • Grand Banks - Hibernia Canada’s larg- In February 2012; an independent est offshore platform report by the US Government • Grand Banks – Hebron- production Accountability Office identified a slew will begin in 2017 of environmental, logistical, and Exxon Mobil technical challenges associated with • Beaufort Sea: Imperial is the oper- ator of a Joint Venture with BP and HQ: Arctic offshore drilling and concluded Irving, Texas, United States Shell’s “dedicated capabilities do not ExxonMobil Canada in the Beaufort completely mitigate some of the Sea for exploration licenses located Ticker: environmental and logistical risks as- more than 120 kilometers off the coast NYSE: XOM of Canada’s Northwes Territories. sociated with the remoteness and Market Cap (USD mil.): environment of the region.” 342,300 • Kara Sea: ExxonMobil and Rosneft On 28 July 2012; Greenpeace reported are exploring the Kara Sea in licensed URL: www.exxon.com/en that its scientists were investigating areas that include more than 125,000 submarine life in the Arctic, when square kilometers. they identified a high concentration of deep-sea corals in the Chukchi Sea, • North Sea: ExxonMobil operates four where Royal Dutch Shell planned to offshore projects and holds interest in start drilling. The group objected Shell 20 more in the Norwegian sector of researchers’ report that identified cor- the North Sea. als as occupying less than 4% of the habitat, saying the slow-growing soft • Russia: coral was the “third most abundant” • Sakhalin Sakhalin-1 is one of the • largest oil and gas projects in Russia. species in the area. • Chayvo field, using the onshore Yastreb rig and the offshore Orlan Exxon Mobil platform. Main business activities • Odoptu field in the Arctic • Arkutun-Dagi field • The De-Kastri export terminal • Alaska (US ): ExxonMobil is the larg- est holder of discovered natural gas • Russian Arctic Shelf: resources on the Northern Slope of • In February 2013, ExxonMobil and Alaska. Operations: Rosneft announced plans to increase • 36% non-operating interest in the the scope of their strategic coopera- tion by adding seven new blocks in 5 the Russian Arctic. wildlife and improve their environ- • In 2014, geophysical and environmen- mental performance on Alaska’s tal studies began in sections of the North Slope. Chukchi Sea, Laptev Sea and Northern Kara Sea, in licensed areas spanning • Offshore oil spill response - Exxon- 600,000 square kilometers. Mobil elaborated an in-house oil spill response research program, which Climate change or carbon emission includes a focus on cold water and reduction related initiatives within remote locations, such as the Arctic. and beyond the Arctic Climate change or environment • ExxonMobil extended-reach drilling relatedcontroversies in the Arctic technologies have allowed for field development from land by drill- On 12 April 2016; it was reported that ing horizontally under the sea. US senators and environmental This approach reduces the number of advocacy groups were urging attorney offshore structures required generals from different US states to recover oil and gas resources by to join governors from New York, Cali- drilling multiple, long-reach wells fornia, Massachusetts, the Virgin at the same location, which helps re- Islands to investigate whether Exxon- duce both underwater noise and Mobil misled the public and investors environmental footprint. about the threat of climate change. The investigations came after the Los • ExxonMobil uses special earthquake- Angeles Times published an investiga- and frost-resistant pipelines in tion on 9th October 2015 revealing some Northern areas. that Exxon conducted studies trying to determine how global warming • ExxonMobil developed the industry’s could affect its Arctic operations and only dedicated, in-house Arctic make its bids for Arctic lease rights research program more than 40 years more profitable due to melting ice, ago. Continued Arctic technology while funding climate change denial development has allowed for groups. InsideClimate News also re- designing, building and operating leased a report on 16th September gravitybased platforms capable of showing that as early as the late withstanding 6-million-ton icebergs in 1970s, Exxon scientists were briefing the North Atlantic and operating year- top executives that climate change round in ice-covered waters offshore was real, dangerous, and caused by Sakhalin Island in Russia.