Arctic decision expected from Cairn Energy in 2015

A decision on whether or not to conduct a drilling plan for arctic reserves is expected next year, Scottish company Cairn Energy said.

In 2011, Cairn targeted arctic reserves off Greenland's coast. It said the reserve potential there was approximately 3.2 million barrels of oil equivalent, though it was forced to abandon the effort after coming up empty handed.

The company, in an annual report Tuesday, said it had no plans to drill in the arctic this year, saying the risks of doing so remain "unchanged."

"The group is targeting a drilling decision in 2015," the company said.

Greenpeace Executive Director of Greenpeace International Kumi Naidoo was arrested by Dutch authorities in 2012, after scaling a platform belonging to Cairn Energy to protest arctic drilling programs.

A Dutch court ruled against Greenpeace after Cairn Energy sued the group.

U.S. plans oil, gas auction in Gulf of Mexico
Washington (UPI) Apr 16, 2013 - More than 21 million acres off the Texas coast will go on the auction block for oil and gas exploration in August, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said.

BOEM Director Tommy Beaudreau announced the lease will help add to the $2.3 billion netted from the 60 million acres auctioned during the previous five sales from a five-year program that began in 2012.

The blocks up for auction are located from nine to 250 miles offshore in water depths ranging from 16 feet to nearly 11,000 feet. BOEM estimates the reserve area could lead to the production of as much as 200 million barrels of oil and 938 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Beaudreau described the region as one of the most productive oil and natural gas basins in the world.

"The nation's economy and our national security depend heavily on adequate and reliable domestic sources of energy and the Gulf of Mexico continues to be a critical component of the Nation's energy portfolio," he said in a statement Tuesday.

Last month, the federal government said it attracted more than $872 million in high bids for the 1.7 million acres on the auction block in the central Gulf of Mexico.

[BOEM]