Russia to submit Arctic shelf expansion application to the UN in February or March
© RIA Novosti.  Vladimir Trefilov

Russia to submit Arctic shelf expansion application to the UN in February or March

Russia plans to present a partially revised submission for the expansion of the outer limits of its continental shelf (OLCS) in the Arctic to the spring UN session in February or March, RIA Novosti reports, citing Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi.

"We have filed an application, and it has been officially posted on the UN website, which means it has been accepted. Now we need to present it, which we'll likely do during the UN spring session at the working groups and the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. This will most probably be in February or March," Donskoi said.

In early August, Russia submitted a revised application to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to expand the boundaries of its continental shelf in the Arctic by adding the Lomonosov Ridge and other continental formations.

Russia's previous submission was rejected for lack of supporting information.

Large-scale geological and geophysical studies were implemented in the Arctic Ocean to collect substantiating materials for a new submission. In particular, scientists studied the geology of the Mendeleev Rise and the Lomonosov Ridge and made the necessary bathymetric and seismic surveys.

The Russian partially revised submission covers an underwater area of about 1.2 million square kilometers. Perspective hydrocarbon resources in that area have been estimated at 4.9 billion metric tons of reference fuel.