Russia finds world’s largest oil reserve but cannot exploit it

The Alexander Karpinsky, a vessel operated by Rosgeo, the Russian agency in charge of finding mineral reserves for commercial exploitation, has found oil reserves equivalent to about 511 billion barrels in Antarctica, according to the British media The Telegraph.

The crude oil has been found around the Antarctic Peninsula, the most accessible area of the frozen continent due to its proximity to the south of Argentina and Chile, which is also a region claimed by the United Kingdom as well as Argentina and Chile. But If anything stops Russia from accessing the reserves, it is the Antarctic Treaty, which prohibits using the continent to extract minerals or use it for commercial exploitation.

Countries that travel to Antarctica normally do so for scientific purposes, and rely on their stations they’ve established to develop them. For example, The United States has three year-round facilities which are located on Ross Island (McMurdo Station), at the geographic South Pole (Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station), and on Anvers Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region (Palmer Station).

However, experts in the region do not have much confidence that Russia will comply with the treaty. “The Antarctic Treaty now faces new challenges, especially from Russia, a bad faith actor, and from an increasingly assertive China,” explains Klaus Dodds, professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway College and Antarctica expert.

“Rosgeo has been engaged in seismic studies and other related topographical work … Russia’s activities should be understood as a decision to undermine the norms associated with seismic research and, ultimately, a precursor to future resource extraction,” he notes.

The reserves found are massive. 511 billion barrels. Venezuela, which is the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, has 303 billion barrels. Saudi Arabia has 298 billion, and Canada, 160 billion.