These claims prove to be a hurdle in the way of a successful Arctic Diplomacy.

Resources in the Arctic

Estimation made by the United States Geological Survey claims that 30% of the world's natural gas and 13% of its undiscovered oil could be located beneath the Arctic (Cowling, 2011). Undiscovered petroleum in the vast Russian Arctic is around 66 Billion Tons of Oil Equivalents (BTOE) according to the USGS and 142 BTOE according to the Russian Academy of Science. The vast energy resources of Russia and Norway account for 52% and 12% of the Arctic’s total supply respectively. Norway has been extracting petroleum from the North Sea since the 1970s and is expecting new discoveries in the Barents Sea. As far as oil exploration and production is concerned, the impactwould be positive, except from the environmental point of view. The activity is regulated to a far extend than that can induce conflict.

Most of the countries in the higher latitudes already play a lead role in the Oil & Gas industry. Having the right technology and expertise to dig in when the opportunity arises, those countries will eventually benefit.

The countries that in history proved to be most enthusiastic about Oil exploration in the Arctic were USA, Norway, Russia, Canada, and Denmark (through Greenland).

Russia

According to Russia Today’s report on 2nd August 2007 (Russia Today, 2007), an Arctic expedition led by a team of Russian scientists planted a Russian flag on the North Pole seabed. This incident was intriguing enough to research more about the region. The flag made out