Gas fuels new cold war in the Arctic

[jpak]

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=824612006

ON A small island off the coast of the world's most northerly town, workers are putting the finishing touches to a vast structure that will transform the politics of the Arctic.

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But already the project is the subject of bitter controversy. For the development of the Snohvit field (Snow White in English), which is entirely within Norwegian waters, is only the first step. Statoil calls it "the door-opener to the Barents Sea", which has so far remained untouched.

The big prize is the Shtokman field, which is 10 times bigger than Snohvit, but which lies in the Russian sector of the Barents Sea.

The waters in that part of the Arctic Circle used to be the scene of cat-and-mouse games between Nato and Soviet submarines. Now it is being eyed enviously by the old superpower rivals because technological advances are making lucrative oil and gas exploitation possible for the first time.

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