"WASHINGTON — Oil companies that locked up more than 1.3 million acres of the Beaufort Sea for drilling in 2007 have since relinquished nearly half that territory.

The industry’s appetite for tapping those Arctic waters may be waning even as the Obama administration plans to auction off more of the area.

Oil companies have ceded rights to drill on roughly 584,000 acres, despite paying tens of thousands _ and sometimes much more — in bonus bids for individual leases in auctions since 2003, according to an analysis of government data by the conservation group Oceana reviewed by FuelFix."

Jennifer A. Dlouhy reports for FuelFix July 30, 2014. [2]