The only well in Alaska’s Arctic National Wild life Refuge (ANWR) was drilled by Chevron and BP in the 1980s.

“To this day, the results are kept locked up in a safe,’’ says Scott Davis, vice-president of Chevron’s Mid-Continent Business Unit. Soon after, a moratorium was placed on future oil and gas activity in ANWR – about 20m acres of pristine Alaskan land the industry believes has strong prospects for sizeable discoveries. ``Whether any further drilling will be allowed there comes up each administration.’’ Yet such a proposal has never passed. And Chevron has done very little in Alaska in the intervening years.