In another win for polar bears, a second major oil company announced Tuesday it's shutting down its plans for drilling in the Alaskan Arctic. Norwegian oil giant, Statoil, is closing its Anchorage, Alaska office, yanking 16 of its own leases, and abandoning 50 more leases being operated by Conoco Phillips. The company cited low oil prices as one reason for the decision. Statoil officials earlier in 2015 announced the company was also canceling plans to explore for oil in the Barents Sea.

Shell Oil in late September halted its exploration in the Chukchi Sea, saying that, after spending $7 billion looking for oil, their search didn't turn up enough to warrant further exploration. In October, the US Department of the Interior announced it was canceling two oil leases in the Arctic—one in the Chukchi Sea, and the other in the Beaufort Sea—saying "a lack of industry nominations" influenced the decision.

“Decisions made by oil companies in the Arctic Ocean are finally starting to make sense," Susan Murray, Oceana's Deputy Vice President, said in a statement issued following yesterday's announcement. "First Shell and now Statoil abandoning offshore leases sends a strong message to decision makers meeting in Paris next month. Pursuing oil and gas in the U.S. Arctic Ocean is too risky and expensive for both the environment and companies’ economic portfolios. The global threats imposed by climate change require that decisions made about important Arctic Ocean resources apply careful planning, precaution, and science to ensure a sustainable future for the Arctic and, in turn, our planet."

President Barack Obama will be at the Paris climate summit, at which world leaders will try and reach a deal to keep global warming levels below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. Obama this morning said he's optimistic a deal can be reached.