According to a press release from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world. About 84 percent of the estimated resources are expected to occur offshore.
Oil and gas regions
Undiscovered natural gas is estimated to be three times more abundant than oil in the Arctic. More than 70 percent of the undiscovered natural gas is estimated to occur in three provinces - the West Siberian Basin, the East Barents Basins, and Arctic Alaska.
Of the oil, more than half of the undiscovered resources are estimated to occur in just three geologic provinces - Arctic Alaska, the Amerasia Basin, and the East Greenland Rift Basins, the USGS reports.
Arctic production
While onshore Arctic oil and gas production already accounts for a significant share of global production, the offshore resources remain more or less untouched. That situation might not last very long, however.
As oil prices surge and new big findings get more and more rare, the oil companies are increasingly putting their eyes on the vulnerable Arctic. With rapidly melting ice and new technological opportunities, the industry is expected to firmly establish itself on the shelf in few years.
In Norway, the StatoilHydro has already started its Snohvit gas field in the Barents Sea. In the Russian part of the area, Russia’s Gazprom is together with its partners getting ready to develop the huge Shtokman field. Likewise, outside the U.S. and Canadian northern coasts, oil and gas exploration is likely to pick pace in the coming years.
The new published studies from the USGS are likely to only put more oil on the fire.
