Survey Maps Arctic Oil and Gas Reserves
earth observation, energy, natural resources May 29th, 2009A map of the potential oil reserves in the Arctic appears today in a feature in Science magazine. Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey pulled together the map using geological assessments from Germany, Canada, Denmark and Norway The resulting consolidation of information points to considerable unexploited resources, with an estimated 30% of the world’s gas, and 13% of the world’s oil reserves.
“The Arctic likely contains about 83 billion barrels of undiscovered oil. That represents enough to sustain global demand for almost 3 years. At the same time, the Arctic probably contains about 1550 trillion cubic feet of natural gas–enough to meet world demand for about 14 years. Most of the resources lie offshore under less than 500 meters of water, which means they are accessible to drilling.”
These considerable energy resources will certainly heat up the international political battle that is being waged regarding the Arctic territory. Many countries are now busy laying their claim to formerly international waters.
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