Shell has submitted plans to drill for oil in the waters off the North Slope region in Alaska (United States) to the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas. The company holds a 100% working interest in 18 leases at the West Harrison Bay that it acquired in 2012 and that have a 10-year term. Shell plans to consolidate them into a designated unit to keep them after 2022. Under its proposed 5-year exploration plan, Shell would start drilling in the winter of 2023-2024, targeting the Nanushuk oil formation.
Shell, which had committed about US$7bn into the Arctic projects and planned to invest a further US$1bn, based on estimations that the Arctic could hold more than 20% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas resources, decided to suspend oil and gas exploration activities off Alaska in September 2015, after drilling at the Burger J well proved disappointing. Unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska and high development costs in a context of low oil prices had made the development unprofitable.