USGS set to upgrade arctic oil, gas reserves

摘要

Interest in the hydrocarbon potential of the arctic has been high ever since the US Geological Survey (USGS) issued its World Energy Assessment 2000. This suggested that 24% of the world's undiscovered resources, equivalent to 190 Bbbl of oil and 1,430 tcf of gas, lie in the arctic region. Now the USGS is engaged on the Circum-Arctic Oil and Gas Resource Appraisal, a program to update and expand on its previous work. The results of this grandly titled exercise will be reported later this year in Oslo, Norway. Speaking at IBC's Arctic Oil and Gas 2008 conference in Oslo this April, Steven Sawhill, at the time a senior research fellow with Oslo-based research institute Ocean Futures, said the indications were that the overall estimate this time round would be greater.