4 Fight for the Top of the World4 Fight for the Top of the World.docVIP

Fight for the Top of the World As global warming melts the Arctic ice, dreams of a short sea passage to Asia--and riches beneath the surface--have been revived. With Russia planting a flag on the ocean floor at the North Pole, Canada talking tough and Washington wanting to be a player, who will win the worlds new Great Game?1 (Abridged) By James Graff 1 At the end of August, a wisp of flame suddenly appeared in the Arctic twilight over the Barents Sea2, bathing the low clouds over the Norwegian port of Hammerfest3 in a spectral orange glow. With a tremendous roar, the flame bloomed over the windswept ocean and craggy gray rocks, competing for an instant with the Arctic summers never-setting sun. The first flare-off of natural gas from the Snohvit (Snow White in Norwegian) gas field, some 90 miles (145 km) offshore, was a beacon of promise: After 25 years of false starts4, planning and construction, the first Arctic industrial oil-and-gas operation outside of Alaska was up and running5. Norways state-owned petroleum firm Statoil could finally exploit once unreachable reserves, expected to deliver an estimated $1.4 billion worth of liquefied natural gas6 each year for the next 25 years. 2 What will a new era of exploitation bring to the Arctic, one of the earths last great uncharted regions? The vast area has long fascinated explorers, but it has just as long been the site of folly and exaggerated expectations. Over centuries, hundreds died in the doomed search for an ice-free Northwest Passage7 between Asia and Europe, many of them victims of ill-fated stabs at national and personal glory. 3 This summer, however, saw something new: for the first time in recorded history, the Northwest Passage was ice-free all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The Arctic ice caps loss through melting this year was 10 times the recent annual average, amounting to an area greater than that of Texas and New Mexico combined.