For Russia, development of the Arctic shelf can become a scientific and technological breakthrough on par with the conquests of the Soviet space industry in 60-70 years of the last century.“ “Russia should intensify work on the Russian Arctic shelf to guarantee the resource base of our economy and the development of high technology. Yet his comparison of Russia’s development of the Arctic shelf to the Cold War space race is equally interesting. His comments stating that he sees “no alternative” to exploiting deposits on the Arctic shelf made the headline. From the space race to the Arctic shelfĪs the Barents Observer reported, Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergey Donskoy noticed the story, posting it to his Facebook page. moves forward into the next frontier of oil and gas extraction, Russia is forced to sit this summer out on the sidelines. Nikolai Ivanov, chief of the energy markets sector, remarked that although weak oil prices would likely dissuade Shell from investing in large-scale production on the Arctic shelf in the near future, instead, their efforts in the Chukchi Sea represent “an attempt to take a foothold for the future.” So while the U.S. The Gazeta article quoted an expert from Russia’s Institute for Energy and Finance, located in Moscow. Rosneft, for instance, has postponed any drilling plans in the Russian Arctic this summer since the sanctions forced ExxonMobil to pull out of its joint venture with the Russian oil major in the Kara Sea despite striking oil last September. Due to the sanctions, however, Shell might not be able to export any technological advances it makes in the Chukchi Sea to Russia. Already, access to American technology and finance has proven crucial for Russian firms operating in the region. Yet if Shell manages to be successful this summer, then the company might leap ahead of Russia in developing Arctic-ready offshore technology. But it cannot be considered offshore, for it goes onto the shelf only partially.” Arctic is almost not conducted except for in Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. “At the moment, offshore work in the U.S. As Topalov pointed out in his article for Gazeta, the U.S. Russia already has one active Arctic offshore field, Prirazlomnoye, in the Pechora Sea. More importantly for the Russian government and industry, however, is the sense of industrial competition brewing across the Bering Strait. The Chukchi Sea is also teeming with wildlife on the Russian side, from the walruses that haul out every year onto places like Herald Island to the polar bears that sometimes eat the tusked marine mammals. Most Chukchi were forcibly assimilated into sedentary lifestyles under the Soviet Union, but some still hunt whales and fish for subsistence purposes. While Shell will be drilling much closer to Alaska than Chukotka (see above map), any oil spills or accidents could still affect Russia’s coastline, where some indigenous Chukchi people still live. On the one hand, the Chukchi Sea is right in between Alaska and Chukotka, Russia’s most northeastern region. The Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management’s conditional approval of Shell’s exploration plans is relevant to Russians for both environmental and industrial reasons. The article depicts Shell’s plans as logical and future-oriented, while the subtext seems to be that Russia could have a new competitor in the Arctic offshore industry hot on its heels. Gazeta, a privately-owned online Russian newspaper, published a story by journalist Alex Topalov on May 12 entitled “Americans rush to the Arctic” (“Американцы рвутся в Арктику”). The New York Timesran an op-ed by environmentalist Bill McKibben lambasting President Barack Obama’s “catastrophic climate change denial.” The media in Russia, however – a country where the petroleum industry accounts for 26.5% of GDP – has a different take on Arctic oil exploration. The non-profit organization Greenpeace is carrying out an aggressive campaign against Shell, which The Guardian – the newspaper behind the “Keep it in the Ground” campaign – is covering non-stop. government’s decision to conditionally allow Shell to drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer has been harsh in many media outlets. Any echoes in today’s Arctic? /AFP/GettyImages) The reaction to the U.S. and the Soviet Union battled to outdo each other in space. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel in space aboard Vostok I and the first to orbit the Earth. Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (centre), Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (left) and Leonid Brezhnev (right) salute the crowd on during a gathering on Red Square to celebrate Gagarin’s flight aboard Vostok I.
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