Global Warming to Open Up "North-East Passage" in Arctic

Global Warming to Open Up North-East Arctic Tanker Route

Melting ice in the Russian Arctic will create a safer, shorter route cut for tankers, but will have even bigger implications for the global energy market


'Soon there will be no summer Arctic ice,' says Norway's foreign minister. Photograph: PR

A new "north-east passage" for shipping around Russia's Arctic coast and across the North Pole will be opened within a decade as global warming causes the ice cap to melt, Norway's foreign minister has predicted.

Jonas Gahr Store, speaking at a recent public lecture in Edinburgh, said the route through previously inaccessible Russian waters, could cut tanker journey times between Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Yokohama in Japan by 40%, and provide a safer and "pirate-free" route for trans-global shipping.

"The rise in temperatures across the Arctic is twice the world average. Soon there will be no summer ice – that will open up new routes and new strategic issues for the world," he said. The forecast follows previous predictions that the more famous north-west passage will be opened by climate change.

The melting ice also has implications for the global energy market. The Arctic is thought to hold 20% of world resources of fossil fuels – principally sub-sea gas in the massive Shtokman field. The Russian government plans to start extracting gas from the Barents Sea by 2011 with French partners Total and the Norwegian state-owned Statoil...The Norwegian environmental group Bellona has published plans by Russian scientists to use nuclear-powered underwater drill vessels...


for complete article:
2009-07-17
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/14/global-warming-tanker-route