The Arctic may contain as much as a fifth of the world's yet to-be-discovered oil and natural gas reserves
The Arctic may contain a fifth of the world’s yet to-be-discovered oil and natural gas reserves, the United States Geological Survey said Wednesday.
Due to the global warming, melting ice caps have opened up prospects that were once considered too harsh to explore, and all the countries which have territories in the Arctic region, were immediately involved in a race for the prospective riches.
This survey of petroleum resources north of the Arctic Circle suggests that most of the yet-to-be found resources are not under the North Pole but much closer to shore, in regions that are not subject to territorial dispute.
The United States, Russia, and Canada are goint to fight for control of these resources.
“Most of the resources are on the continental shelf in areas already under territorial claims,” Donald L. Gautier, the chief geologist for the survey, said during a news conference Wednesday.
