UN Committee's Verdict Boosts Russia's Chances to Win Arctic Shelf Bid

Russia has filed a request to extend the borders of its continental shelf in the Arctic. This would see the addition of an area of 1.2 million square kilometres where Russia could carry out economic activities - including drilling for energy resources.

The ruling of the UN subcommittee, which said that the area of the continental shelf mentioned in the Russian bid to extend its Arctic borders geologically belongs to Russia, has increased the chances of the move being successful in general, the head of Russian Federal Agency on Natural Resource Management announced. He noted that there are still some technical issues that need to be resolved during the next two or three sessions of the subcommittee.

If the bid is accepted by the UN subcommittee and the UN commission, then Russia will gain control over a 1.2 million square kilometre area that could contain, according to some estimates, up to 5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.

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The bid was first filed in 2015, but Russia is not the only country seeking control over the potentially oil rich Arctic region. Among them are also Norway, Denmark, the US, and Canada.