The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation -- and a handful of village corporations nearby -- now have the option to buy into offshore drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea. It’s part of a new agreement with Shell Oil.

But with the future of that company’s Arctic operations up in the air, the deal raises more questions than answers.

Arctic Inupiat Offshore is the new company that’s formed as a potential partner in Shell’s Chukchi Sea operations. Its leader is Rex Rock -- the current president of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.

Rock took the stage at a press conference Thursday to launch the new partnership in Anchorage.

"This agreement ... represents our collective vision and commitment to a sustainable economy in our villages," Rock said.

The details of the agreement are still fuzzy. Arctic Inupiat Offshore will have the option to invest in Shell Oil’s operations in the Chukchi Sea when they get rolling. The company would get a cut of revenue back in the form of royalties.

But Shell’s Chukchi Sea operations have been on hold for two years now. This spring, a federal court upheld a challenge to Shell’s leases there.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is in the middle of an environmental reassessment, which will determine whether the government was right to let Shell buy $2 billion in leases in the Chukchi back in 2008.

Shell’s CEO, Ben van Beurden, discussed some of those uncertainties during a conference call with reporters on Thursday morning.

He said development’s inevitable in the Arctic -- and Shell is still interested in being a part of it, when the time is right.

"We will only do it when all the conditions are fulfilled -- all the technical conditions, as well as all the permit conditions," van Beurden said. "As well as, of course, all the legal challenges and blockages that need to be removed. When that will be? I don’t know. It is impossible to say at this stage."

For van Beurden, that’s a pretty optimistic take on Arctic exploration. The CEO has openly questioned whether the company’s almost $6 billion investment in the Arctic is worth it since he took over back in January.

His position doesn’t come as a surprise to Susan Murray. She’s a deputy vice president for the environmental group Oceana.

"Until the time that they decide that these leases are not something worth pursuing, I think he has to say, ‘We are looking at what we would do with this asset that we’ve acquired,'" Murray says.

Murray’s skeptical in part because of a recent study by Oceana. They reviewed oil and gas holdings in the Beaufort Sea, and found that six companies have let their offshore leases lapse. Shell looks to be the only major player left.

That definitely wasn’t the focus of Thursday’s press conference in Anchorage, to announce Shell’s partnership with Arctic Inupiat Offshore.

The message was that stakeholders would have a greater say in Arctic oil development in their backyards, and the opportunity to profit.

Shell vice president Pete Slaiby brushed aside concerns that his company might be pulling back from the Arctic.

"This is about Shell working with AIO and getting some extremely knowledgeable and savvy business partners," Slaiby said. "Nothing more than that."

What’s not clear is what AIO will get in return -- how big a stake they could eventually have in the Chukchi Sea, and whether it will pay off.

APRN's Liz Ruskin contributed to this report.