Russia has reportedly found huge oil deposits in Antarctica.
This claim was made by the Rozio oil exploration company
and has raised concern among environmentalists and also in the
British Parliament because the alleged discovery are believed to have
been made in polar territories claimed by the UK no
less.
Let's bring in Shirley Sidbhan from our news desk.
Look to you Shirley these environmental aspects of the news
drilling foil was banned in Antarctica.
Is there a risk to see this precautionary measure overturned?
There's always a risk, although of course there's this
1976 treaty that puts a moratorium on the exploration and
end
on the exploitation of minerals in Antarctica.
And Russia committed to this moratorium and to this treaty.
But we've seen this in the past in other areas
which have used to be protected.
We've even seen this in Alaska in some areas that
were protected where now there is drilling.
So yes, that's a risk and
you can think of everything that could be found in
Antarctica since it's
it's basically a huge territory with potentially huge oil fields
never exploited before.
So yes, of course many countries are looking into our
thinking about it.
And Russia, well, the moratorium bans the exploration,
but it allows,
you know, scientific research. And it's under that
that the Russians have been,
you know, going for years across Antarctica and using
seismic well surveys to find out if there is a
potential oil field beneath.
These images are of Vladimir Putin,
but not from Antarctica, but from the Arctic Circle,
where Russia is already exploiting various fields.
But yes, now the idea is going
is seeing what's underneath in case things change and this
is allowed in Antarctica as well.
And that way, well, people of these exploration companies,
oil exploration companies know where the oil fields may be.
They can deepen their research and maybe be able to
exploit this in the in the future.
And this is of course a major risk because we're
already extremely concerned there's global warming,
it's going very fast. You know,
in Antarctica we've seen this as a major threat and
there's always so already so difficult to slow down warming
if you start exploring there.
And you know, it can only make things worse.
So of course everybody is concerned about this,
all people interested in the environment.
Yeah, environmental risk, very clear.
But for some people that might live far away,
they might say Antarctica, far Fung part of the world,
this doesn't concern me. There's no geopolitical consequences.
But experts say there are even with ties to the
war in Ukraine.
Tell us about that. Of course there are.
There are always links. Antarctica may be far away,
but we've seen this so many times in recent years
when we talked about global warming,
how everything's interconnected, of course.
But yeah, there is a geopolitical aspect in this because
since the war in Ukraine,
there's been really a turn around in
the policies because, you know,
until now there was this idea of all the countries
coming together,
at least in appearance to to work to protect the
well that is over now.
Since the war in Ukraine,
there's been growing tension around the
polar areas for that well,
for exploiting oil and energy and minerals
And you know, in the past,
in recent years, some countries have tried to expand the
areas that are protected in Antarctica and Russia and China
have blocked those efforts.
So yes, there is growing concern around this.
And so now, well, there's a fear that,
you know, the various tensions in the world,
it will also impact the environment and make the fight
to fight global warming make it more difficult.
It has that impact as well.
Alright, Shirley, Shirley, thank you very much.
Shirley Spawn from our news desk.