More Arctic areas to be open to drilling

Even as the first offshore drilling in the Arctic in nearly two decades is poised to get under way, Obama administration officials said Tuesday they are preparing to open additional areas of the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas exploration.

Such exploration will be part of a “targeted leasing” strategy that will place a few of the most sensitive areas – including prized wildlife habitat just north of Barrow, Alaska – off-limits but will allow new leasing in 2016 in the Chukchi Sea and 2017 in the Beaufort Sea.

The full scope of the offshore-leasing program in the Arctic for 2012-2017 will not be released for another several days, but U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made it clear that the U.S. plans to expand the march of drilling rigs into the Arctic after Shell’s initial exploratory drilling program this summer. Salazar said that program is likely to win final federal approvals soon.

“I do anticipate, having seen the conditions that Shell has already met, that it is probable that they are going to get these permits. I think it’s highly likely that the permits will be issued,” Salazar said in a conference call with reporters from Norway.

He was meeting with officials from other Arctic nations on a coordinated approach to expanding oil production while protecting resources in the remote, sensitive region.