U.S. says Arctic holds 90 billion barrels of oil

A view of an open pit mine is seen at the Diavik diamond mine, south of the Arctic Circle in Canada's Northwest Territories, Feb. 13, 2008. The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil. (Chinese media/Reuters Photo)
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WASHINGTON, July 23 (Chinese media) -- The area north of the

Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically

recoverable oil, according to a new assessment posted Wednesday at the official

website of The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Also among the Artic bonanza are 1,670 trillion cubic

feet of technically recoverable natural gas and 44 billion barrels of

technically recoverable natural gas liquids, says the USGS assessment.

There natural resources are distributed in 25

geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum, according to

the assessment, which is the first publicly available petroleum resource

estimate of the entire area north of the Arctic Circle.

These resources account for about 22 percent of the

undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world. The Arctic

accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the

undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids

in the world. About 84 percent ofthe estimated resources are expected to occur

offshore.

"Before we can make decisions about our future use of

oil and gas and related decisions about protecting endangered species, native

communities and the health of our planet, we need to know what's out there,"

said USGS Director Mark Myers. "With this assessment, we're providing the same

information to everyone in the world so that the global community can make those

difficult decisions."

Of the estimated totals, more than half of the

undiscovered oil resources are estimated to occur in just three geologic

provinces -- Arctic Alaska, the Amerasia Basin, and the East Greenland Rift

Basins. On an oil-equivalency basis, undiscovered natural gas is estimated to be

three times more abundant than oil in the Arctic. More than 70 percent of the

undiscovered natural gas is estimated to occur in three provinces -- the West

Siberian Basin, the East Barents Basins, and Arctic Alaska, the assessment

shows.

Till now, exploration for petroleum has already

resulted in the discovery of more than 400 oil and gas fields north of the

Arctic Circle. These fields account for approximately 40 billion barrels of oil,

more than 1,100 trillion cubic feet of gas, and 8.5 billion barrels of natural

gas liquids.