Cold war breaks out as Russia freezes out rivals in Arctic

Buoyed up by steadily rising oil and gas prices, Russia has become financially much stronger – and now boasts $420bn (
The other nations with a claim to this treasure – at least by proximity – are Norway, Canada, the US (because of Alaska) and Denmark (via Greenland). But Russia’s Arctic Sea coastline is by far the longest – which is why the Kremlin wants a 450,000 square mile chunk, which is an area around half the size of Western Europe.

The Kursk contrast made Mir-1’s voyage politically highly symbolic. That’s certainly an angle stressed by the Russian press. But, to my mind, the mini-sub’s journey is imbued with a deeper – and more enduring – economic symbolism.

That’s because the day before Mir-1 settled on the ocean floor, global oil prices hit an all-time nominal peak of $78.77 a barrel. Prices are now $8 higher than a month ago and more than 50pc up on January.

During the 10 years from 1985, global oil reserves grew by 3pc per year, as new fields were discovered. Last year, in contrast, reserves fell 0.55pc – despite the impetus of sky-high prices and all that extra drilling.

Opec’s admission of how hard it had been trying to find new crude spooked the markets. It reminded traders that no one has found a really decent field for the best part of 30 years.

How timely then, that in the week these realities combined to push oil to a record high, non-Opec Russia had Mir-1 laying claim to the last oil frontier on Earth.

Telegraph