8 Countries Eyes on the Energy at the Poles. The Arctic region, whose borders are drawn with the Arctic Circle, is the focus of attention of 8 neighboring countries to this region. Last week, United States Secretary of State John Kerry talked about why the Arctic region is important, which started to be talked about again after the United States announced that it would appoint an ambassador for the Arctic. BBC Turkish published an analysis.
The Arctic ambassador of this step of the USA will take the step of the Arctic Council, which was formed in 8 by 1996 countries bordering the Arctic region (USA, Canada, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Russia), between 2015-2017 the USA will preside. Energy market analyst Cüneyt Kazokoğlu's analysis is as follows:
Rich oil and gas reserves
According to the 2008 US Geological Survey, one of the most comprehensive studies on the Arctic, there are 90 billion barrels of oil, 47 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquid reserves in this region.
These figures equate to about 2013% of the world's proven oil reserves (1,7 trillion barrels) as of 6, and more importantly, a quarter of the world's proven natural gas reserves (187 trillion cubic meters).
By comparison, the reserves in the Arctic are at a level to meet Turkey's oil consumption for approximately 330 years and natural gas consumption for a thousand years.
The factor that makes these resources so important is that, no matter how much renewable energy increases in the coming decades, the place of fossil energy in our lives will not change much unless a great breakthrough is made.
According to the predictions of the International Energy Agency, more than 80% of the total energy consumption in the world today comes from fossil sources.
This rate will only decrease to around 2040% as the 75s approach. In particular, the anticipated increase in natural gas consumption indicates that even in the middle of this century, more than half of the energy consumed by humanity will be fossil fuels.
More than half of all resources in the Arctic belong to Russia, and one-fifth to the US. Russia is currently one of the world's largest oil and gas exporters. Therefore, Russia's resources in this region will enable it to maintain its position for many more years.
On the other hand, the USA, whose share in the world's oil and natural gas consumption exceeds 20% and is still a net energy importer, needs new resources in order to keep its foreign dependency at a low level (or to become a net exporter), which has been decreasing in recent years with its oil and gas production focused on rock.
USA's post-rock production preparation
The United States is experiencing a major breakthrough in oil and gas production.
While oil consumption has decreased by 2005 million barrels/day since 2.5 due to both increased energy efficiency and economic slowdown, crude oil production has increased by approximately 3 million barrels/day in the same period. Likewise, natural gas production has increased by 2005 billion cubic meters since 180.
These developments, which have increased and will further increase the self-sufficiency of the USA, which managed to produce more oil than it imported last year for the first time since 1997, are very impressive, but are not expected to last long.
The US government predicts that shale oil production will begin to decline from 2021, just 7 years from now. Therefore, for the USA, which has 65% of the oil reserves in the Arctic, this region is of great importance in terms of long-term energy security.
The interior of the arctic circle is not a foreign territory for Russia or the USA.
Russia started oil production in the Yamalo-Nenets region, off the northern coast of Western Siberia, in the early 1960s.
In the USA, Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, the largest oil field ever discovered, is in the Arctic. The field, which was found in 1968 and started production in 1977, still produces three-quarters of Turkey's consumption.
Increased Ship Traffic
Another consequence of the Arctic region being accessible as a result of global warming is the change it will create in global shipping.
For example, while the distance between Hamburg and Shanghai, one of the world's largest ports, is about 20.000 km over the Suez Canal, it is only 14.000 km on the Arctic route called the North Sea Line. A similar shortening is present in the East America-Asia route.
As a matter of fact, this line, which is only open between July and October due to weather conditions, until recently, every ship had to get a special permission from Russia, as a result of Russia's "Northern Sea Route Information Office" (Northern Sea Route Information Office) to reduce the bureaucratic burden. there was a significant increase.
Last year, 2010 ships used the Northern Sea Line, through which only 4 ships passed in 71.
Source : t24
📩 22/02/2014 01:05
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