To the alarm of environmental groups, oil giant Shell announced on Thursday it was making plans to be able to resume the hunt for oil in Arctic waters in 2014.

On a call with reporters, chief financial officer Simon Henry said, “Our focus would be very much on the Chukchi [Sea], which is by far the biggest prize; that is the multi-billion barrel prize,” he said.

“Clearly, we would like to drill as soon as possible, so we are putting the building blocks in place. There remains a permitting and regulatory process through which we need to go, before we can confirm a decision to actually drill in 2014,” said Henry.