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Executive Summary for December 23rd

We review and analyze the latest news and most important developments in the Arctic, including a U.S. oil company’s decision to leave Russia, a possible deepwater port in northern Alaska and contaminants found in reindeer. Our goal is to keep you informed of the most significant recent events.

Published on Dec. 23, 2015 Read time Approx. 3 minutes

U.S. Oil Company Quits Russian Arctic

The U.S. oil and gas company ConocoPhillips has sold off its stake in the Russian energy sector due to low oil prices and political tensions, the Financial Times reported. It had been in a joint venture with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company, to develop Polar Lights, which centered on the far northwest of Russia.

Falling oil prices, lackluster investments and the shale oil boom in the U.S. led to ConocoPhillips’ withdrawal, said the FT. Energy assets had also moved back under state control or were in the hands of those with close ties to the Kremlin.

Russia is the second largest producer of oil and gas, according to the International Energy Agency. Oil reserves in the Nenets Autonomous Region in northern Russia, where ConocoPhillips had been drilling, had been estimated at 16 million tons, but production has been in decline, according to RT.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Western companies had pushed hard to gain access to Russia’s vast oil and gas reserves. ConocoPhillips, which had been operating in Russia for 23 years, was one of the first foreign firms to tap Russia’s oil fields.

India and China have both expressed an interest in developing oil and gas fields in the Russian Arctic. Russian president Vladimir Putin will discuss oil and gas in an upcoming meeting with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Sputnik News reported.

Alaska Looks Toward New Deepwater Port

The U.S. senate has passed an agreement to transfer almost 2,500 acres of federal land at Port Clarence on the Seward Peninsula, creating an opportunity to develop a deepwater port in northern Alaska for vessels travelling through the Arctic, reported Alaska Public Media.

The site is north of Nome, Alaska, and about 1,250km (780 miles) from the state’s existing deepwater port in Unalaska. Port Clarence had previously housed a Coast Guard facility and airstrip, which were decommissioned in 2010.

The absence of a deepwater port in Alaska’s northern and western waters had been seen as a point of concern. If built, the port would play a large role in the expansion of nearby shipping routes, which is expected to occur as sea ice recedes, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. The Coast Guard and other federal agencies had been uneasy about the ability to respond to distress calls, industrial activities and oil spills.

The deal conveys 110 acres of land to the state of Alaska. The Coast Guard holds on to 161 acres. Another 2,209 acres goes to the Bering Strait Native Corp., as part of its land entitlement under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

Reindeer Contaminated With Fire Retardants

Scientists monitoring the reindeer that roam the island of Spitsbergen in Svalbard, Norway, have found that their dung contains flame retardants, Discovery News reports.

The reindeer in the town of Ny-Alesund are picking up polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) by eating moss that contains the chemicals. The scientists, from China’s National Marine Environmental Monitoring Center, also found the chemicals in the soil, but they were most concentrated in the moss.

A wide range of consumer products contain PBDEs, including furniture, plastics and upholstery. Air currents carry the chemical over long distances into the north. The chemicals do not break down easily in cold environments.

Other studies have found PBDEs in polar bears in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Norway. They tend to bioaccumulate in food webs, putting human beings and other animals that consume them at risk of negative health effects. PBDEs may act as endocrine disruptors in humans and other animals.

Some U.S. states and the European Union have phased out the use of PBDEs in certain products.

Recommended Reads

Top image: Reindeer foraging on moss on the remote island of Svalbard are being exposed to flame retardants. (Flickr/Javier Rodriguez)

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