Arctic Oil Hunt: Why Oil Exploration is So Difficult and Costly

The Arctic, also known as the Arctic Circle, is the vast geographical region surrounding the North Pole, located in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, opposite to Antarctica. It is estimated that 20% of the world's hydrocarbon resources, approximately 400 billion barrels of oil, lie beneath the Arctic. Despite the wealth of resources, the location is extremely inhospitable, making Arctic oil exploration a formidable task, even for global superpowers like Russia and the USA. Of the vast resources in the region, about 87% are divided among seven Arctic basin provinces. Jurisdictionally, according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, only eight countries fall within the Arctic Circle: Canada, Denmark (through Greenland), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. All of them are eager to lay claim to the richest hydrocarbon deposits.

00:00 Arctic Oil and Gas Resources
00:52 Where Oil Concentrates in the Arctic and Which Countries Have Exploration Rights
01:30 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
02:00 The Great Challenge of Arctic Oil Exploration
02:48 Why Arctic Exploration is So Costly
04:15 Other Challenges That Increase the Cost
04:55 Environmentalist Protests and Political Pressures

#Arctic #Oil #Geopolitics

Credit: NASA, USGS, NOAA