Oil Companies To Exploit Global Warming

With the polar ice cap melting, oil companies are planing on ways to get oil and gas from under the arctic ocean.

I'm convinced, based on models and observations, the trend is one of accelerated ice loss, and we're probably looking at a scenario, even with the best efforts to mitigate (global warming), that we'll continue to see loss," said Richard Spinrad , director of research for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .

Already, shipping already has increased within the Arctic Circle to serve the oil and gas industry.

The recent increase has been the result of a spike in commodity prices, not to capitalize on retreating sea ice, said Lawson Brigham , a former Coast Guard captain and climate scientist who made many voyages into the Arctic and around Antarctica .

The pull is strong in a world dependent on petroleum. In July, the U.S. Geological Survey issued the first public estimate of the petroleum resources north of the Arctic Circle . Its findings: 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.