July 24, 2008: Expect more northward trips by drilling ships like this one, the West Polaris. Demand is so high for drilling ships that builders have raised prices up to $100 million per vessel since 2007. The U.S. Geological Survey has released the first Arctic-wide estimate of undiscovered natural gas and oil deposits and come up with huge numbers for both, at least on first glance. The region north of the Arctic Circle, the agency said, probably has a third of the world’s remaining uncharted gas and 20 percent of the remaining oil.
But as Jad Mouawad notes in The Times, if that amount of oil were extractable, it would still add up to less than three years’ worth of gasoline, heating oil and other petroleum needs at today’s consumption rate of 86 million barrels a day — and the demand for oil is rising. The gas is a much bigger deal, with Arctic-wide estimates equaling the known reserves for Russia, the world’s largest largest gas source. More >>>
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