WASHINGTON, June 30 (Reuters) - The Obama administrationissued a potential setback to Royal Dutch Shell's Arctic oil exploration plans on Tuesday, telling the companythat established wildlife protections prevent it from drillingtwo rigs simultaneously within 15 miles (24 km) of each other,as it had planned.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued Shell a permit onTuesday that said that under existing federal walrus and polarbear protections, Shell must maintain a 15 mile buffer if itplans to drill two rigs simultaneously. In Shell's 2015 Arcticdrilling plan, no two of its wells are more than 15 miles apart.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Sandra Maler)