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Russia to lay claim to Arctic seabed

Vladimir Radyuhin

Its scientists say they have gathered new evidence that Russia’s northern Arctic region is directly linked to the North Pole via the underwater Lomonosov Ridge.

Resurgent Russia is bracing for a battle for control over the oil-rich seabed in the Arctic Ocean up to the North Pole.

A second expedition in the past four months has been sent to the Arctic Ocean to collect scientific data to bolster Russia’s claim to 1.2 million sq km of seabed. This huge swathe of the Arctic Ocean bottom, more than one-third the size of India , is said to contain about 10 billion tonnes of hydrocarbons. The territory is also contested by other nations — Norway, Canada, the United States, and Denmark, which governs Greenland.

However, its geologists say the seabed should by right belong to Russia. A six-week-long expedition on a nuclear icebreaker has reportedly found evidence that the Arctic Ocean’s floor to the north of Russia’s shores is a continuation of the Siberian continental platform. This would enable Russia to legally claim the Arctic shelf as its economic zone.

Under the 1982 International Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal country is entitled to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in which a country has sovereign drilling rights for hydrocarbons and other resources. The EEZ can be greatly extended if it is proved that the sea floor beyond it is geologically linked to the country’s continental shelf.

Russia first formally laid claim to the Arctic seabed in 2001, but the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ruled that the claim was not backed by sufficient scientific evidence. Now, the country’s scientists say they have gathered new geological evidence that Russia’s northern Arctic region is directly linked to the North Pole via the underwater Lomonosov Ridge — a rugged, undersea mountain chain that runs from the Russian coast across the Arctic Ocean past the North Pole.

The Russian expedition aboard an atomic icebreaker conducted detailed scans and acoustic measurements of the seabed, and drilled for rock samples 10 metres under the sea floor on an area of 700 sq km along the Lomonosov Ridge. Less than a month after the first 43-day Arctic mission returned to Murmansk on June 24, Russia launched another 90-day expedition to the North Pole. It will, for the first time, use a mini-submarine to determine the external boundaries of the Russian continental shelf at depths of up to five km near the North Pole.

It will take researchers about a year to process the results of the two expeditions, after which Russia will resubmit its claim. It is bound to face stiff opposition from the other littoral states as the race is warming up for the region’s energy riches made more accessible by new technologies and global warming. According to the Russian Ministry for Natural Resources, the 6.2 million sq km of the Arctic seabed holds 15.5 billion tonnes of oil and 84.5 trillion cubic metres of natural gas. This constitutes 20 per cent of the known global resources of hydrocarbons.

Canada, which claimed the North Pole as far back as 50 years ago, has recently allocated $7 billion to build a fleet of new patrol ships and a new deepwater port to reinforce its claim and build a permanent presence in the high Arctic.

Washington is also keen on blocking the Russian bid. The U.S. Senate has so far refused to ratify the Law of the Sea Convention for fear that it would unduly limit the U.S. freedom of action on the high seas, but it is likely to change its mind now. “If the United States did not ratify the Convention, Russia would be able to press its claims without the United States at the negotiating table,” ranking Republican Senator Richard Lugar argued two months ago. “This would be directly damaging to U.S. national interests.”

Experts doubt western nations will let Russia win its claim of the Arctic shelf in the U.N. no matter how solid its scientific evidence may be. Moreover, the U.S., acting through the Arctic Council, has been pushing to internationalise the Arctic Ocean — that is, secure free access to its seabed resources and trade routes even within Russia’s exclusive economic zone.

“The only way for Russia to assert its sovereignty in the Arctic is to establish a strong economic and naval presence in the region,” says Dmitry Evstafiev of the Russian PIR Centre think tank. “This alone can force Russia’s Western partners to accept its claim to the region.”

The Kremlin appears to have heeded this advice. Earlier this year, Russia launched its first 4th-generation nuclear submarine since the Soviet collapse as part of the Kremlin seeks to upgrade its undersea nuclear strike force. The submarine will join Russia’s Northern Fleet next year, and another three submarines of the same type will be inducted four years later. Two months ago President Vladimir Putin called for setting up a National Arctic Council to coordinate the nation’s activities in the region. And last month he ordered the merger of the country’s two largest shipping companies, creating one of the world’s largest shippers, whose primary task would be to transport oil and gas Russia plans to produce from its Artic shelf.

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