Harper Arctic Cabinet Meeting Risks New Russia Cold War for Oil

(Bloomberg) — Beneath the melting ice of the Arctic Ocean, the world’s last great land grab is under way.

Global warming is opening the Northwest Passage that sailing ships sought 500 years ago, and some of the world’s biggest oil reserves are becoming accessible under the polar sea. Russia, the U.S., Canada, Norway and Denmark are jockeying for territory in moves that could end up in clashing claims.


With an eye on asserting Canada’s stake, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his cabinet will travel this week to the Arctic town of Inuvik, as the country completes its largest- ever military exercise in the region. The town, where the summer sun never sets, lies 4,100 kilometers (2,548 miles) from Ottawa.

“You have the recipe for trouble if there isn’t real energy invested early to help resolve some of these issues,” said Scott Borgerson, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. “You can envisage a future in which all the ice is gone, there is this wild-west environment in terms of lack of respect for whatever national law.”

Bloomberg