Headline June 20th, 2012 / "Snohvit"

"Snohvit"

Very privately, the U.S. is perhaps not so averse to Russia getting its shelf extended. In President Bush's period, one Washington insider conceded : ''All kinds of deal are being made behind the scenes. Bush would rather get his energy from Putin than have to deal with the madness of the Middle East''. Haha! 

In the meantime, the Norwegians seeing a circle of 'no joy' moved. So in the fall of 2008, the first project to tap Arctic oil and gas deposits, 90 miles off the coast of Norway and 340 miles above the Arctic circle, came on Line. Interestingly it's called Snohvit. Norwegian for ''Snow White''. Haha! 

Now where the hell are the seven Dwarfs??! Haha! Oh, dear! All the production equipment got to the ocean floor, so the drifting ice was not a problem, and the weelhead links by 89 miles of pipe to a small midland just off Hammerfest. 

There the gas is cooled to 325 degrees below zero F. Shrinking its volume by 99.8 percent and turning it into liquid that can be shipped in tankers. Innovative Science at its very best. Norway then conceptualised and built an oil drilling ship that can withstand the movement of ice. Super Engineering! 

So, as technology keeps improving, the price of oil keeps rising, and the ice keeps melting. Therefore, in days ahead, as the recent years proved, the Arctic energy is bound to be an increasingly bigger part of the global mix. 

In a fair perspective Antarctica is held up as a model of international cooperation in the administration of the fragile and all-important polar regions. Over 50 years ago it as the scene of a similar showdown among Britain, France, Argentina, Chile, Norway, New Zealand, and Australia each of which had asserted claims to the continent. 

It ended up with the 7 countries, and five others, including the U.S. signing a treaty that divided the continent into sectors and forbade nuclear tests, military deployment, the dumping of radioactive waste, and the exploitation of any resources until 2048. But the startling news that the snow shores in late 2007, was that Britain was drawing up a submission claiming 386,000 sq miles of seabed off northwestern Antarctica- which seismic tests suggest could contain 60 billion barrels of oil- as an extension of its sector's continental shelf. 

The territory is disputed by Chile and Argentina, who have submitted counter claims, and the U.S. has made it clear that it holds Britain in violation of the Antarctic Treaty. But this is only one of Britain's five proposed shelf extensions, and nine other countries have submission in the works which will affect the status of 2.7 million sq miles of sea bottom, an early roughly the size of Australia. Hahaha! 

So stay on as we hit the Blockbusters.

Good Night & God bless!

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