Barents Sea: The 2004 lifting of an embargo on offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the Norwegian Barents has renewed activity there. Regulation of exploration is animportant political issue. Debate in 2005 focused on environmental protection and establishing areas free of oil development. In Russia five companies were selected as finalists in the joint development of the Shtokman gas field, in the Barents Sea. This field is estimated to hold twic...

Sea routes along the edges of the Arctic ocean, or rather along the coasts of Northern Canada and Russia, holds potential for decreasing the number of days in shipping goods from the Pacific to Atlantic coasts in Europe and North America, and vice versa. In addition, this could provide a means to transport natural resources, such as oil and gas, extracted in the Arctic. Currently these routes have not been possible to use this, due to the ice con...