Why the Arctic shelf of the Northern seas is so important for Russia
The area beyond the Arctic circle occupies only about 6% of the earth’s surface. Not much, is it? But in fact it is a gold mine, because there can be up to 20% of the proven recoverable reserves of oil and natural gas.
The Arctic region partly includes the territories of eight countries which are: Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the United States and, of course, Russia. The Arctic shelf of the Russian Federation can literally become a real luck.
More than 20 large oil and gas provinces and reservoirs have been discovered on the Russian shelf, half of which are proven reserves. The largest sedimentary basins in the Arctic are the Vostochno-Barentsevskiy, Uszno-Karskiy, Laptev, East- Siberian and Chukotscky. A significant part of the resources of the Russian Arctic (about 94% of the total amount) is concentrated in its Western part, and undiscovered reserves of its Eastern part (along the continental slope and in the deep Arctic basin) are mainly classified as expected or conditional.
It is expected that in the period up to 2020, Rosneft and Gazprom will play a major role in the development of the continental shelf of Russia, which is not surprising, because these companies were among the first to engage in exploration of this region.
But why is it , despite the significant costs and high degree of risk, still profitable and economically beneficial for companies to work in the Arctic? To answer, you should consider the figures.
According to a research by the USGS (us government research organization specializing in Earth Sciences), undiscovered hydrocarbon deposits in the Arctic are estimated at about 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,669 trillion cubic feet of gas and 44 billion barrels of natural gas condensate. About 84% of the 412 billion barrels of oil equivalent, are located on the continental shelf, while natural gas is about two-thirds (67%) of the estimated reserves. At the same time, Russia possesses more than a half of the total Arctic resources!
