The United States Geological Survey (USGS) released its 4-year assessment of petroleum resources north of the Arctic Circle. It noted that the Arctic may hold as much as 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil reserves, and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This would amount to 13 percent of the world’s total undiscovered oil and about 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas. Reports also pointed out that the Arctic may contain as much as a fifth of the world’s yet to-be-discovered oil and natural gas reserves. Melting ice caps have also opened up prospects that were once considered too harsh to explore. Arctic nations - including the United States, Russia, and Canada, were gearing up to control these resources1.

• 1. “Oil survey says Artic has riches,” The New York Times, July 24, 2008, at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/business/24arctic.html