Living Blue Planet Report page 36
Oil and gas in the Arctic
Oil and gas is the most widely discussed and most controversial
resource development sector in the Arctic. According to the
United States Geological Survey (Bird et al., 2008) the Arctic
contains an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil and 30 per cent of
the world’s undiscovered natural gas. Much of the undiscovered
gas is in Russian territory, while the oil is thought to be mostly
offshore of Alaska, Canada and Greenland.
Offshore oil development is especially controversial.
Shell has encountered major difficulties (technical, regulatory
and reputational) in its efforts to drill in Alaskan waters, and
exploratory drilling in Greenland’s Baffin Bay drew concern from
Canadian Arctic residents. A few of the sector’s major players
are not at present actively involved in oil and gas projects in
the high Arctic due to substantial risks and the absence of key
technologies and infrastructure to ensure safe operations as well
as reasonable economic returns.
There are no proven effective methods of cleaning up oil
spills in ice, especially mobile ice. Even without ice, the effects
of a spill in Arctic conditions will linger for decades. Oil from the
Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska still pollutes beaches, more than 25
years later.
While industrial development is expanding in the Arctic,
serious challenges make its consequences unclear. There are
few reliable technologies designed to work in Arctic conditions;
infrastructure is very limited; very few strategic environmental
assessments have been done, and knowledge of Arctic ecosystem
dynamics is weak; there are next to no regional Arctic-specific
environmental standards in the oil and gas industry; no
consistent standardized liability regimes in particular linked
to environmental risk; and there is still no comprehensive
regional or international governance regime for ecosystem-based
management. Finally, the Arctic requires a comprehensive and
representative network of marine protected areas to build and
protect resilience in a region expected to experience wrenching
climate change.