Headline June 16th, 2012 / The Laws of Extraction

"The Laws of Extraction"

Anyway you look at it, Russia has the greatest legitimacy in the Arctic--geographically, historically, demographically, hydrologically. It has six major rivers that feed the Arctic Ocean, while the other countries have one or two. And it now hopes to prove, geomorphologically and geologically.

If the world were an orange with 18 segments meeting at the top, the North Pole, roughly 8 of them would be in Russia, Canada would have 4, Denmark 2, and Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. just one apiece. Only a sliver of Alsaka on the Beaufort Sea. Lies above the Arctic Circle.

The new accessibility of the Arctic's deposits is not going to make the effort to curb global warming any easier. Ironically , fossil fuel emissions are making more fossil fuel available. But it is going to cost so much to get the Oil in Arctic out that the Russians are going to need partners.

Gazprom, Russia's parastatal, is already partnering with France's Total and the Norwegian energy giant Statoil. Russia as yet does not have the technology to tap the huge deposits of natural gas below the sea floor, or the estimated 30 to 40 billion dollars it would cost, and the partners do.

Traditionally, all the Arctic countries mention their own sectors. Only in the last ten years is the discussion about the unfairness of definition of sectors. This is how the seven countries with claims in Antarctica divvied up the continent in 1959, agreeing not to use their sectors for military purposes or to exploit their resources until 2048.

How do we know that there is so much Oil there? Seismic profiles establish that at the bottom of North Ice Sea is a large amount of oil-bearing structures analogous to the structures of western Siberia that formed 38 million years ago, when the Arctic ocean was beginning to be formed.

And in addition to Oil, do remember the existence of ''thermokarst lakes'' as the water filled ones are called, are bubbling with 'Methane' that has been trapped in the ice. Methane is atleast 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than Carbondioxide.

The Siberian permafrost zone alone contains an estimated 500 gigatons of carbon. The entire human output is about five and a half gigatons.And in Yakutia the entire economy is based on 'Diamond Mining'. The Republic is practically a private fiefdom of Alrosa, the world's second largest diamond company, after De Beers. Yakutia's President was also once the President of Alrosa.

Remarkable story as the Post continues. Flock back tomorrow.

Good Night & God Bless!

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