By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. governmenton Thursday started to formally gauge energy companies' interestin future oil and gas leasing in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska,site of a trouble-plagued 2012 exploration season for RoyalDutch Shell Plc.
The "Call for Information and Nominations" issued by theU.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the first stepin a potential Chukchi Sea lease sale under consideration for2016, officials said.
The Chukchi, off Alaska's northwest coast, is believed to beoil-rich, but its remote location and harsh Arctic Oceanconditions have challenged would-be developers.
The last Chukchi lease sale, held in 2008 by the MineralsManagement Service, BOEM's predecessor, drew a record $2.66billion in bids, $2.1 billion of that from Shell.
Shell did preliminary drilling on one Chukchi well in 2012.After experiencing equipment failures and accidents, it declinedto drill again this year. The company has announced no decisionabout returning to complete that well or drill others in 2014.
Shell's well was only the sixth ever drilled in the Chukchi.
The call to industry on Thursday asks for nominations ofspecific blocks within the Chukchi that might be promising fornew leasing, in order to focus on targeted regions that wouldavoid environmentally sensitive areas, BOEM said.
"Any future leasing in the Chukchi Sea must be focused onareas that can be developed safely and responsible while alsoprotecting sensitive habitats and places that are important toAlaska Native hunters and fishermen," BOEM Director TommyBeaudreau said in a statement.
Environmentalists said it was a mistake even to consider newleasing in the Chukchi after Shell's experiences, which includeda grounded drillship, air-pollution violations and failure tosecure needed oil-spill equipment.
"Shell's long list of setbacks and failures during its 2012Arctic drilling campaign, combined with the reality that thereis no effective way to clean up an oil spill in Arcticconditions or infrastructure in the region to support anadequately safe drilling or cleanup effort, providesoverwhelming evidence that the oil and gas industry is notprepared to operate in the Arctic Ocean," said Cindy Shogan,executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League.
Other companies have active leases in the Chukchi, includingConocoPhillips and Statoil. Conoco planned todrill at least one well in 2014, but then announced this year anindefinite postponement.
The proposed 2016 Chukchi lease sale is one of three in afive-year BOEM leasing plan for Alaska's outer continentalshelf. Other lease sales are eyed for Cook Inlet insouth-central Alaska and the Beaufort Sea off the northerncoast.
Shell also did preliminary drilling in 2012 on a Beaufortexploration well. In the Beaufort, seven leases held by avariety of companies are due to expire this year, and 20 are dueto expire in 2015, said John Callahan, a BOEM spokesman inAnchorage.
The Chukchi is believed to hold over 15 billion barrels ofrecoverable oil and the Beaufort is believed to hold over 8billion barrels, according to federal estimates.
