Shell has frozen its Arctic oil drilling – but it's still hungry for fossil fuels

Environmentalists claim victory as Shell abandons Arctic oil drilling, but the energy company is still pursuing oil and gas elsewhere in the short-term

Shell's decision to put its Arctic oil exploration plans in deep freeze will have several knock-on effects for global oil exploration, environmental protests and the future of the company itself.

The broader Arctic retreat by energy firms once bullish about polar prospects has now left just two working operations in the region: BP's Prudhoe Bay field, which feeds the Trans-Alaskan pipeline, and Gazprom's largely symbolic Prirazlomnoye platform in the Pechora Sea.