Royal Dutch Shell has won conditional US approval for its plan to drill six exploration wells in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea next year.

This plan to drill the Arctic waters has been long delayed, as it was fiercely opposed by environmental campaigners.

According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the US government agency that runs offshore leasing, the final approval requires Shell to meet safety and environmental protection measures.

The Bureau said it had concluded that Shell’s planned exploration in the area would cause “no significant impacts” to fish and other wildlife or to local communities.

However, Shell warned that conditions imposed by the government could “severely impact” its plans.

Europe’s largest oil company by market capitalisation, Shell first acquired leases to drill in the Chukchi Sea off the north-west coast of Alaska in 2008.

But, it had repeatedly been prevented from drilling by legal action, a government moratorium in 2010 and failing to secure the necessary permits.

Shell will have to stop drilling 38 days before ice appears in the Arctic, to avoid an end-of-the season spill when clean-up is difficult, the agency said.

The US projects ice will form by November 1.

“We will continue to work closely with agencies across the federal government to ensure that Shell complies with the conditions we have imposed on its exploration plan,” BOEM Director, Mr Tommy Beaudreau, said in the statement.

Shell, which has invested about $4 billion in the Arctic leases since 2005, hasn’t drilled any wells in the region while opponents won delays with appeals and lawsuits.

Environmental organisations and Alaskan native groups have said it would take too long for equipment to reach the remote and icy region during an oil spill.

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