Alaska's Arctic Update: 'New Arctic Realities--The Path Forward'.

• Author: Salov, Alex
• Position: International Trade

In October 2017, WTC Anchorage conducted the 6th edition of the annual Arctic Ambitions Conference in Anchorage. This conference is the only annual conference in Alaska focused on the commercial aspects of Arctic development. More than forty local, national, and international speakers discussed their views, experiences, and visions of commercial development of the region. Some of the discussed subjects were infrastructure development, energy and resources development, tourism, and technologies, both existing and coming. The information presented at the conference helped Alaskans outline recent Arctic trends, learn about some of the projects, and meet their colleagues from various industries involved in Arctic development.

2018--The "New" Age of Discovery

Receding ice cover of the Arctic Ocean opened access to vast natural resources and has enabled maritime navigation in the region. The accessibility of the resources created opportunities that some researchers compare to the Age of Discovery. The Arctic region contains abundant reserves of oil, natural gas, and minerals. Global commercial interest in the region is mainly based on extraction of these resources. With the current US administration's favorable position on natural resource development, this year's conference theme was New Arctic Realities--The Path Forward.

There are different assessments representing the size of Arctic natural resources. One of them estimates that more than a quarter of the world's natural resources are located within the Arctic. Of the world's remaining undiscovered fossil fuels, it is estimated that Arctic contains 13 percent of oil, 30 percent of natural gas, and 20 percent of natural gas liquids. Alaska, the only Arctic state in the United States, is viewed as one of the key storehouses of natural resources in the Arctic region. As Governor Walker mentioned in a recent speech, should Alaska be viewed as an independent country, it would be the eighth most mineral-rich nation in the world. For example, Alaska's coal deposits are estimated to be 17 percent of the world's entire coal reserves, copper reserves are 6 percent, gold reserves are 3 percent, and the list goes on. Alaska is home to some major resource development projects: Red Dog Mine is one of the world's largest zinc mines and Prudhoe Bay Oilfield is the largest oilfield in North America. That said, most of the state's natural resources remain untapped.

Tapping Arctic Resources

Several factors are significantly slowing exploration of the resources and other...