While territorial claims are and will likely be heated, what struck me is that the area is right near the Drake Passage, in the Weddell Sea (which is fundamental to the world’s ocean currents AFAIU).
I don’t know how oil drilling in the antarctic could affect the passage, but still, I’m not sure I would trust human oil hunger with a 10ft pole on that one.
Also interestingly, the discovery was made by Russia, which is a somewhat ominous clue about where the current “multi-polar” world and climate change are heading. Antarctica, being an actual continent that thrived with life up until only about 10-30 M yrs ago, is almost certainly full of resources.
I’m not sure I would trust human oil hunger with a 10ft pole on that one.
I’ll fix it for you:
I’m not sure I would trust human oil hunger as far as I could throw a 10 ft pole.
Good, let’s all make sure it stays right where it is
Instructions unclear, we started world war 3 over Antarctican resources.
Ron Howard: They didn’t.
It’s Always Sunny theme music
FRANK MELTS ANTARCTICA
Oil in Antarctica? Hold on to your shorts boys, America is sending all the freedom!
Uh-oh!
Oh no
I’ll see you all in anchorage in 2076
Why Anchorage??
Maybe that’s the last place we’ll have oil after everything else is drained? Or maybe some contract expiring that year
fallout
Just what we don’t need.
ever get the feeling that devil’s blood really is the final “fuck you, mammals!” from the dinosaurs?
From the unicellular algae *
It’s much older than dinos.
til 👍
Congrats on joining the daily 10,000.
BTW there were tar pits present in the Triassic. That’s just how old oil is.
so, quite literally there were non trivial stores of energy dense hydrocarbons available almost immediately after the permian? thats pretty wild.
any real evidence for large amounts of abiogenic oil, or is this still on the weird end of strange?
Sorry, meant to say Jurassic. Oil formation time isn’t consensus yet, but it’s estimated it can take as little as a couple hundred thousand years, so it’s possible there were tar pits in the Triassic. I’m not aware of any evidence to it, but I’m no geologist or archaeologist.
As for abiogenic oil, first I’m hearing of it. Not a clue. Seems fringe.
thanks for the update!
yeah, the abiogenesis idea has been around since the 1950s-ish, I think. it comes and goes, but never seems to get fully debunked. current tepid consensus seems to be that its a plausible earth geo-process, but likely only a very, very minor contributor on this world.
really apprreciate the interaction. :-)
Hell, there are still tar pits with mammoths and dino skeletons stuck in them to this day! I saw them when I was 5, and vaguely remember the Le Brea Tar pits. Apparently I charmed the staff with my knowledge of dinosaurs and which eras they lived in. Of course this was the '80s so they didn’t have feathers yet.
I thought the animals at La Brea were all from the Cenozoic. There are Dinos in there as well?
I’m probably remembering it wrong. I was 5 and obsessed with dinos.
“climate change is actually good because it’ll melt all this ice that’s in the way of our oil!”
“The more oil we use, the more ice we clear! The more ice we clear, the more oil to use! It’s a never ending cycle of win!”
That’s actually a real strategy by Russia. Since they have so few deep water ports for their Navy, if temperatures rise then they have new options in their far north territories.
The reserves uncovered contain around 511 billion barrels worth of oil, equating to around 10 times the North Sea’s output over the last 50 years.
According to documents discussed in U.K. parliament last week, the discovery was made by Russian research ships in the Weddell Sea, which falls under the U.K.'s claim in Antarctic territory. That claim overlaps with those of Chile and Argentina.
So in the water, not the land.
At the current usage rate, how long would 511 billion barrels last?
Googling says 36.4 billion barrels per year as of 2018, so 14 years.
That kind of calc isn’t fair though because there’s a ton of protection everywhere else.
Of course its just an estimate. I’m sure the “burn rate” will change between now and whenever it could be extracted, if that ever happens.
Oh boy UK vs Argentina rematch! I need some popcorn.
What difference does it make?
The land is not supposed to be claimed by any nation. The sea, well as the article says is claimed by 3.
God is effing with us now.
deleted by creator
Yup, we all will be deleted by creator!
ANTARTICA!!! ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FREEDOM!!!
GODBLESS AMERICA RAAAAH 🗣🗣🔥🔥
Fortunately global warming will make it super easy to get to! Win/Win!
I saw a warning-documentary 2 weeks ago on the big-screen, it was called ‘John Carpenter’s The Thing’
Leave that shit well alone.
I was thinking the black oil from X-Files.
At least it turned out alright in the end!
US about to declare war on the Arctic and bring some freedom to…uh…the penguins?
I was about to correct you, but then thought, no, I wouldn’t put it past the US to invade the Arctic when oil is discovered in the Antarctic.
[Trump pulls out a sharpie and starts circling the wrong part of the map]
“I AM PLACING TARIFFS ON PENGUINS UNTIL THEY GIVE US THEIR OIL AND SHOW ME HOW TO DO ALL THE DANCE MOVES FROM HAPPY FEET!”
Followed by 65 year old Moms whose children haven’t spoken to in a decade making Facebook memes with a Minion with Trump’s toupee and 8 clones of the same exact frame of Pingu atop an Iceberg, next to a crop of the American Flag from Apollo 11, with an oil rig in the background.
Upper Text: Happy Feet Tariffs: The Final Frontier!
Bottom Text: Trump and Penguins Agree - LOVE America!
That would be a war against the world and they would break their own agreement.
And America never breaks agreements!
Gonna find a penguin wedding and drone strike it. Just for shits and giggles. (All penguins within 500ft of the impact are designated “Enemy Combatants” by default. (This totally isn’t a war crime))
This totally isn’t a war crime
Robert M. Gates:
Very legal. Very cool.
Yeah, it’s Russia sniffing around the area that should be unclaimable any nation.
I’m pinning my hopes on crude oil prices being much lower after the 10-20 years it would take to sort out the territorial disputes and complete construction of rigs that could pump oil in large volume. Oil will still be very valuable in 10-20 years, but i would guess it’ll be much less valuable then, and hopefully the price will be low enough to make it not worth the massive outlay cost
