Oil and gas in the Arctic
Barents Sea, Norway/Russia
Feature article
Concerns about high oil prices and instability in the Middle East have meant that the Arctic has become one of the final frontiers for natural resource exploration and exploitation. In the search for more oil and increased tanker traffic, oil spills are inevitable. Find out more about WWF's work on preparing for oil spills off the coast of northern Norway.
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The Norwegian Barents Sea holds an estimated 2.2 bbl oil and 30 tcf of gas. Of these reserves, some 90% are yet to be discovered. Russia's Barents Sea shelf (including the Pechora Sea) clearly holds vast volumes of oil and gas, but estimates of reserves potential in the area tend to vary. Estimated oil reserves are 4 bbl, while estimated gas reserves are estimated at a gigantic 878 tcf.
Development of these reserves has started on the Norwegian side, while Russian offshore development is anywhere from three to ten years away. Development will include both gas and oil; oil fields on both sides of the border lie in close proximity to key areas for biodiversity.The Barents Sea is among the cleanest and most undisturbed oceans in the world. It has the world's highest density of seabirds, some of the world's richest fisheries and diverse and rare communities of marine mammals.
At present, the Barents Sea is of most importance as a transport hub for oil and gas from western Siberia and partly from the Timan Pechora basin. Transport is increasing rapidly, and authorities on both sides of the border acknowledge the lack of adequate oil spill and accident response facilities.
Though western Siberia is a mature province, it nonetheless has over 40 bbl oil remaining. These resources are likely to come through the Barents Sea. There are also discussions of building a LNG plant in the region to facilitate marine transport of the area's huge gas reserves. Plans for building a two to three million b/d crude export terminal in the Murmansk region, on the coast of the Barents Sea, are in the feasibility study phase.
WWF is worried about the environmental impacts of large scale petroleum impacts in the region and we are working to reduce them. By talking to companies, advocacy work with governments and public awareness raising in the media, we aim to improve environmental regulations. We believe that to protect eh most valuable and vulnerable areas in the region these areas must be designated no-go areas for the petroleum industry. Outside these no-go areas, state of the art technology must be applied and no emissions to water are acceptable.
