Lots More Information

Related HowStuffWorks Articles

• How Oil Drilling Works
• How Offshore Drilling Works
• Could the Northwest Passage open for business?
• Have we reached peak oil?
• Who owns the oceans?
• Why is Arctic ice melting 50 years too fast?
• 5 Most Coveted Offshore Petroleum Reserves

More Great Links

• United Nations: Oceans and Law of the Seas
• U.S. Geological Survey: Arctic Assessment

Sources

• "90 Billion Barrels of Oil and 1,670 Trillion Cubic Feet of Natural Gas Assessed in the Arctic." U.S. Geological Survey. July 23, 2008. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1980
• "An awkward silence." The Economist. May 14, 2009. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13649247
• Boswell, Randy. "Canada is 'Arctic superpower': Cannon." Canwest News Service. June 28, 2009. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.canada.com/technology/Canada+Arctic+superpower+Cannon/1741781/story.html
• Boswell, Randy. "Russians to drop troops in Arctic." Canwest News Service. July 31, 2009. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.canada.com/Russians+drop+troops+Arctic/1847925/story.html
• Haplin, Tom. "Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches." Times Online. May 14, 2009. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6283130.ece
• McLaughlin, Kim. "Arctic claimants urged to obey U.N. rules." Reuters. May 28, 2008. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN2730967620080528
• Morello, Lauren. "U.S. Pushes for Law of the Sea Ratification as New Arctic Mapping Project Begins." New York Times. July 29, 2009. (Aug. 7, 2009)http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2009/07/29/29climatewire-us-pushes-for-law-of-the-sea-ratification-as-89174.html