Canada's claim could go beyond North Pole
Arctic nations vie for potential seabed oil
The federal scientist leading Canada's quest to secure thousands of square kilometres of seabed territory in the Arctic Ocean says the country's grasp for potential undersea oil and other submerged resources could reach beyond the North Pole -- a prospect likely to put Canada on a diplomatic collision course with polar rivals Russia and Denmark.
Dr. Jacob Verhoef, the Halifax-based director of Natural Resources Canada's Atlantic division, told Canwest News Service the Canadian government has yet to decide whether it will authorize ocean-bottom surveys on the Eurasian side of the pole, where geologists from Russia have been gathering data for its planned claim for an extended continental shelf off Siberia's northern coast.
The contentious territory is along the Lomonosov Ridge, an undersea mountain range that stretches an estimated 2,000 kilometres from the Danish-Canadian boundary waters north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island, directly past the North Pole and across the Arctic Ocean toward the Siberian coast... www.nationalpost.com
