The leases the Bush administration sold in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, Lease Sale 193 among them, generated substantial controversy and met with legal challenges.
It has conquered space from the sea and leased some from France but it has always sought to mitigate its negative environmental impacts.
The final decision about whether to "end or affirm" the Chukchi Sea oil leases will be made on March 20th.
The Crown Estate, which manages the seabed, granted the lease on Monday.
Other companies -- like Fathom Expeditions, Mountain Travel Sobek, Zegrahm Expeditions and Radisson Seven Seas Cruises -- lease Antarctic cruisers and offer their own itineraries with their own staff.
The company bid $44 million to lease Beaufort Sea prospects in 2005 and $2.2 billion for leases in the Chukchi Sea in 2008, and expected to be welcomed back to the Arctic.
The company recently spent $2.1 billion to acquire leases in the Chukchi Sea, after spending $84 million to buy leases in the Beaufort Sea.
For 20 years, however, Russia, while taking four-fifths of what used to be the Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet, will hold leases on the main harbours that make up the Sebastopol port.
The event's core sponsor is the Crown Estate, which leases the sea bed sites to developers.
An earlier sale of oil and gas leases in the Beaufort Sea, to the east of the Chukchi lease area, ended with Royal Dutch Shell winning the right to exploit the vast reserves believed to lie in that area.
And the Crown Estate, which is responsible for granting permission for any projects involving the sea or the seabed, has leased more than 40 sites for future marine energy development.
