Slow-Rolling The Oil and Gas Industry

ConocoPhillips will delay drilling in the Arctic. Rigzone is reporting:

ConocoPhillips will place on hold its 2014 drilling plans for Alaska's Chukchi Sea due to the uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements and operational permitting standards.

While the company is confident in its expertise and ability to safely conduct offshore Arctic operations, ConocoPhillips believes it needs more time to ensure that all regulatory stakeholders are aligned, said ConocoPhillips Alaska President Trond-Erik Johansen in a statement.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with the federal government and other leaseholders to further define and clarify the requirements for drilling offshore Alaska," Johansen commented. "Once those requirements are understood, we will reevaluate our Chukchi Sea drilling plans. We believe this is a reasonable and responsible approach given the huge investments required to operate offshore in the Arctic."

I honestly don't know how an oil company could survive an off-shore mishap. BP has paid $23 billion to date and the trials are yet to begin. COP investors should be relieved that COP is not taking on an unnecessary risk.

For the Bakken, this frees up more CAPEX for BR. I'm sure it won't make a difference, but it can't hurt.

So much for all those folks who say the Obama administration is not slow-rolling the oil and industry; so much for "all of the above" as an Obama energy policy.