Can Trump undo Obama ban on new US oil drilling in Arctic?

100m acres have been protected from offshore exploration, but the petroleum industry is confident that the law can be circumnavigated, write Jennifer A Dlouhy and Josh Wingrove

US president Barack Obama banned new offshore oil and gas drilling in 100m acres of the US Arctic and undersea canyons in the Atlantic Ocean. That is certain to provoke a fight with the Republican-led Congress and his successor in the White House, Donald Trump.

In an announcement co-ordinated between the US and Canada, two of the world’s biggest oil producers, Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, also committed to freezing new offshore leasing in his nation’s Arctic waters and to reviewing the matter every five years.