does Russia have the right to exploit oil reserves in Antarctica?

According to the English press, Russia has discovered enormous oil reserves in the Antarctic. But can each country do what it wants in this region? Not really, since rules exist.

Russia has reportedly spotted gigantic oil reserves on the “White Continent”, the British press reported in mid-May, notably The Telegraph. But do they belong to him? In reality, countries in Antarctica cannot interact with natural resources as they see fit. “We have a framework that exists, it’s not the Wild West”insists Anne Choquet, teacher-researcher, president of the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research, provides some elements to understand how this region of the globe works.

franceinfo: How is Antarctica special from a legal perspective?

Anne Choquet: Management is done on the basis of an international treaty which is the Antarctic Treaty, adopted in 1959. Antarctica is then reserved for peaceful activities only. So we could very well imagine having resource exploitation and other activities, such as tourism. In 1991, the Madrid Protocol was signed. A protocol relating to environmental protection, which requires environmental impact assessments and prohibits activities relating to mineral resources, except for scientific purposes.

Are there fears that this protocol will be circumvented by states?

Of course, but you have to be careful what you read in certain media. We often read the idea that from 2048, it will be possible to exploit mineral resources in Antarctica, but it is much more complicated than that. Currently, if we want to lift the ban on the exploitation of mineral resources, we would need the agreement of all the “consultative parties”, that is to say the 29 signatory states of the Antarctic treaty which have a right to vote, and of which France is a part. From 2048, the decision procedure between States changes, but remains very strict. We no longer need the consensus of 29 States but 26 of them. We will also need a new treaty, therefore a new legal regime which explains how mineral resources can be exploited.

But currently there may already be attempts to circumvent the legislation?

It can be any country. I am a member of the French delegation for the Antarctic treaty meetings, so I do not have to take a position in relation to another state, especially since negotiations are underway. But it is as with any international treaty, the difficulty, as we can clearly see with the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, is the implementation of the treaties. How do we get a treaty adopted? However, there are safeguards because there are discussions at the level of States, environmental protection associations, courts… We also have, within the treaty system on Antarctica, an observer mechanism: these are inspections of one State by another State. For example, every year we have inspections carried out on stations, ships, and other places to see if the treaty is respected. The difficulty is that the boundary between scientific research and exploration is flexible.

More broadly, are there territorial conflicts in this area?

You have seven states that have territorial claims: France, the United Kingdom, Norway, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile and Australia. Either on the basis of the discovery, or on an extension of the territory towards Antarctica. And there are states which will accept these territorial claims, for example France and Australia accept their claims. But others disagree. For example on the Antarctic Peninsula, Argentina, Chile and the United Kingdom see their territorial claims overlap. Finally, some countries do not have this type of claim and consider Antarctica as an international space. But the situation has been frozen since the 1959 treaty. This means that we continue to cooperate. And in particular that we continue to carry out scientific activities by establishing stations, for example.