NEWSLINK: Rushing for the Arctic’s Riches

File Photo of Polar Bear on Ice and Snow with Water Nearby

[Rushing for the Arctic’s Riches – New York Times – Michael T. Klare – December 8, 2013 – http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/opinion/sunday/rushing-for-the-arctics-riches.html]

Michael Klare and the New York Times address Russia’s temptation to exploit Arctic energy resources:

While many existing oil and gas reserves in other parts of the world are facing steep decline, the Arctic is thought to possess vast untapped reservoirs. Approximately 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil deposits and 30 percent of its natural gas reserves are above the Arctic Circle…. Eager to tap into this largess, Russia and … Arctic neighbors ­ Canada, Norway, the United States, Iceland and Denmark (by virtue of its authority over Greenland) ­ have encouraged energy companies to drill in the region.

For Russia, which recently seized a Greenpeace ship and is prosecuting 30 of the group’s activists for attempting to scale an oil platform, the temptation to exploit the Arctic Ocean is especially powerful. Russia’s economy is heavily dependent on exports of oil and gas, and the government relies on these sales for much of its income. Until recently, the Russians could draw on reservoirs in western Siberia to satisfy their needs, but now, with many of these fields in decline, they are counting on Arctic supplies to maintain current production levels. “Our first and main task is to turn the Arctic into Russia’s resource base of the 21st century,” Dmitri A. Medvedev, then the president, declared in 2008.

Some areas relevant to Russian exploration include the Pechora Sea above northwestern Siberia, further east in the Kara Sea and the Barents Sea.

Sea ice and storms are among the obstacles to effective energy extraction, while the risk of environmental contamination also looms.

There also is a hypothetical potential for military conflict:

Adding another layer of risk, many of the boundary lines in the Arctic remain to be fully demarcated, and various Arctic powers have threatened to use military force in the event that one or another intrudes on what they view as their sovereign territory.
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… Five of the Arctic states have asserted exclusive drilling rights to boundary areas also claimed by one of the others, and control over the polar region itself remains contentious.

The author raises the prospect of an Arctic Treaty, recalling the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, to address maritime boundaries, protect the environment, limit military activity and serve other purposes.

Click here for full article: www.nytimes.com/2013/12/08/opinion/sunday/rushing-for-the-arctics-riches.html

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