Race is on for Arctic resources

A person in space looking down on the frigid region around the North Pole would view something never seen before at this time of year.

Earlier last month, Arctic sea ice reached its lowest extent on record, according to scientists measuring the retreat since satellite images became available in the 1970s.

They predict that the melting will continue under the impact of global warming to the point where there might be no summer sea ice in the Arctic by 2030 and a much lesser amount of ice in winter.
What could this opening of access to what have long been the frozen wastes around the North Pole mean for Asia, much of which lies in the northern hemisphere?

It could radically alter energy import patterns, particularly for countries like China, Japan and South Korea that are increasingly dependent on oil and gas from far-away and politically volatile regions like the Middle East and Africa.

It could trigger a rush of extended undersea territorial claims and disputes in Asian waters that, like the Arctic, are considered to have significant potential reserves of oil, gas and other minerals.

And it could open a new international shipping route through an ice-free Arctic Ocean between North-east Asia and Northern Europe that would be considerably quicker than the main routes now taken across the Pacific through the Panama Canal, or via South-east Asian straits and the Suez Canal.

The skirmishing for control of seabed resources in the Arctic is quickly gathering pace.

Canberra Times (Australia)