You won’t believe what Russia has found! This finding happened under the ice of Antarctica in the Weddell Sea, part of the British Antarctic Territory. The Rosgeo company found oil during a mission with a supposedly scientific purpose, but there are many doubts about this. Professor Klaus Dodds of the Royal Holloway University, believes the reason behind this mission was a search for natural resources, not just science.
The main issue about this Russian finding is that it’s illegal due to the Antarctic Treaty, which protects the continent from exploitation. This has made countries like Argentina and Chile pay attention to this situation since they also are interested in this area.
Apart from the current climate crisis, this discovery has been the beginning of a debate on energy geopolitics and the future of Antarctica. So, let’s find out more about this situation.
What happened?
Russia has discovered a huge amount of oil underneath the ice of Antarctica, in an area called British Antarctic Territory. However, this discovery is very controversial because this area has been protected for many years by the international treaty that prohibits the use of this place to extract natural resources, like oil.
What’s more, experts are saying Russia could have found more oil than has ever been extracted from the entire earth. It’s estimated the total amount under the ice could be 511 million of oil barrels, which is such a large amount that it would change the energy balance in the world if used.
How did Russia discover this?
Russia sent a special boat to the Weddell Sea, in the area where they found oil. This boat belongs to a company of the Russian government that studies geology, so the mission was presented as a scientific mission. However, some people think this mission didn’t have any scientific purpose, but to look for oil and other natural resources. One of these people is Professor Klaus Dodds, who said these scientific investigations could be just an excuse so that Russia prepares for a future oil extraction.
Antarctic Treaty
In 1959, an international treaty called Antarctic Treaty was signed by 12 countries during the Cold War and now it includes the signatures of 56 countries. This treaty prohibits every military activity and the extraction of natural resources in Antarctica, so nobody can go there to extract oil, gold, gas or anything like it.
For now, no country has broken the treaty and all of them, including Russia, said they will continue to follow what the treaty says. However, this Russian discovery is making some countries think twice about it…
Other countries
These other countries that are thinking about it are Argentina and Chile, which also claim parts of the British Antarctic Territory. Since the Russian discovery, their interest in this area has increased.
Even though the treaty clearly states no new claims can be made, some countries had already claimed way before. The fact that there is so much oil under this ice, makes every country pay attention to Antarctica as if it was a prize to win. This is a worrying situation because Antarctica should be a continent of cooperation and peace, not a competition between countries to see who gets the most resources.
Importance for our planet
Not only Antarctica has a lot of oil, it also has more fresh water than any other place in the world (frozen in the shape of ice). The main issue here is that climate change is melting this ice, which has 2 consequences:
- Increasing the sea level, which can affect many coastal cities.
- Changing the climate in the whole planet because Antarctica helps maintain the balance of climate systems.
So, this melting makes the oil reserve be exposed and if more countries decide to extract this oil, global warming could get worse. Of course this oil would provide energy to many countries and improve the energy security, but what about the environment? To get this oil countries would have to damage Antarctica and climate change would reach the worst condition. What do you think about this Russian ‘’scientific’’ mission?