WHAT IS THE ARCTIC ZONE

Arctic (from the Greek — “arktikos”) refers to the territory under the constellation URSA Major. The Arctic zone occupies about one sixth of the Earth’s surface. The area is 3.1 million square kilometers. Two-thirds of the territory falls on the Arctic ocean — the smallest ocean of the planet, most of which is covered with ice all year round (average thickness of 3 meters) and is not navigable.

The Russian Arctic is 18 percent of the territory of the Russian Federation and 28 percent of the world’s Arctic possessions.

Justification of the outer limit of the continental shelf in the Arctic

Russia was the first to apply for the expansion of its continental shelf in the Arctic. It was followed by Canada, Denmark, Norway and the USA.

Here are the main stages of the Russian application:

2001-application to the UN Commission.

2002-receipt of comments on the application.

2005-2014-additional work on the justification of the application in the Arctic (seven expeditions were carried out).

March 2014-the UN Commission approved Russia’s bid to expand the shelf in the sea of Okhotsk.

August 3, 2015-an updated application to the UN Commission for the recognition of the Russian Arctic shelf.

December 2015-presentation and protection of Russia’s application to the UN Commission.

February 2016 – start of consideration of the Russian application by the UN Commission (the process may take up to 5 years).

Northern marine transportation corridor (Supermacht)

Actively developing transport artery, which is formed by the waters of the Arctic seas from the Barents to the Bering and flowing into them navigable rivers of Russia.

From 7 million tons in 2012, the main sea freight traffic increased to 18 million tons in 2016. In the waters of the Northern sea route (from the Kara sea to the Chukchi sea), cargo traffic in 2016 amounted to 7.5 million tons, exceeding the record of 6.6 million tons in the late 1980s.

The main type of cargo is crude oil from the Arctic fields exported to the markets of Western Europe. The year-round system of export of production of the Norilsk industrial area (ore concentrate and metals) works long ago.

According to the projects approved by the Central Commission for the coordination of technical projects for the development of hydrocarbon deposits of Rosnedra, the expected flow of oil and liquefied gas will reach 40 million tons by 2021. And if the announced projects are implemented, the cargo flow of mineral resources including coal and ore can reach 75 million tons in 2025.