Shell Halts Alaska Drilling Program
During the last week of February Shell announced it will pause its exploration drilling activity for 2013 in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to prepare equipment and plans for a resumption of activity at a later stage.
Global Warming Will Open New Shipping Routes in Arctic
A new UCLA research shows that shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean won’t put the Suez and Panama canals out of business anytime soon, but global warming will make these frigid routes much more accessible than ever imagined by melting an unprecedented amount of sea ice during the late summer.
Arctic’s Geopolitical Importance
The following interview, exclusively published by Route Magazine, covers some very important and interesting aspects of Arctic affairs. Alexandre Latsa, French expert in geopolitics, author of “Putin’s New Russia” and RIA Novosti News Agency contributor, analyzes the business prospects of the Northern Sea Route and assesses the possibility of Russia’s 2013 Arctic claim approval by the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Russia Draws up Business Plan to Revive the Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route (NSR) gradually becomes an important transport corridor: latest navigation season set a new record in the number of vessels. The Russian energy giant Gazprom successfully completed world’s first LNG supply via the route. What are the economic reasons behind this ambitious project?
LNG Tanker First Winter Arctic Crossing
BBC reported today that Ob River, a large tanker carrying liquified natural gas, has left Norway in November and has sailed north of Russia on its way to Japan. The tanker is due to arrive in early December saving approximately 20 days of regular journey. According to the owners the changing climate conditions and a volatile gas market make the Arctic transit profitable.
Officer of the Watch 