Arctic Estimated to Contain 13% of World’s Remaining Oil
A detailed scientific analysis of potential oil and gas deposits in the Arctic confirms that significant resource wealth could accrue to Canada, the U.S. and other northern nations, but identifies Russia as the biggest winner. In new findings, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates the Arctic may be home to 13 percent of the planet’s undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas reserves. The report was carried in this month’s Science magazine, and billed as the “first detailed, peer-reviewed geologically based assessment of natural resources in the region.”
A team of scientists at the USGS collaborated with international researchers to conduct the first-ever comprehensive assessment of undiscovered oil and gas reserves in the Arctic. The updated estimates of the North’s promising oil and gas resources comes as polar countries pursue their competing claims to vast areas of continental shelf under the Arctic Ocean. Nations whose borders lie within the Arctic Circle are Canada, Greenland/Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States.
The researchers note the “most likely place for oil in the Arctic is offshore northern Alaska in the Chukchi Sea” — a zone where U.S. and Russian interests are likely to clash. Canada’s best bet for Arctic oil and gas is in the Beaufort Sea in a region near the disputed offshore boundary between Yukon and Alaska that cuts through a sediment-rich sea floor.
The more dramatic wealth of the Arctic lies in natural gas resources. The USGS estimates that the region contains three times as much undiscovered natural gas as crude oil, on an energy-equivalent basis.
Researchers say that deep ocean basins have relatively low petroleum potential, but the Arctic is one of the world’s largest remaining areas where oil and gas are accessible. Most of the reserves are projected to be offshore, in less than 500 metres of water.
Offshore oil exploration in the Arctic is still in its infancy, but ExxonMobil and other oil companies already have staked their claim and started drilling in the Mackenzie Delta, the Barents Sea, the Sverdrup Basin, and offshore Alaska.
The USGS survey does not address the economic risks or technological challenges of extracting the Arctic’s oil and gas.
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