Arctic Economics

The Northwest Passage this August

This year's Arctic sea ice melt is behind last year's, but has accelerated quite a bit in August, "triggered by a series of strong storms that broke up thin ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas" reports the National Snow and Ice Data Center: Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis - August 11, 2008  Sea ice decline accelerates, Amundsen's Northwest Passage opens.  They report on the status of the Northwest Passage:

Opening of Amundsen's Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage that Roald Amundsen navigated with great difficulty starting in 1903 is opening for the second year in a row, as shown in the AMSR-E sea ice product from the University of Bremen (Figure 4).

The most recent operational analysis from the Canadian Ice Service and the U.S. National Ice Center on August 8 showed a small section of Amundsen’s historic path still blocked by a 50-kilometer (31-mile) stretch of sea ice, although that should melt within the next few days.

Amundsen’s route requires sailing through treacherous narrow and shallow channels, making it impractical for deep-draft commercial ships. The more important northern route, through the wide and deep Parry Channel, is still ice-clogged. The northern route opened in mid-August last year; it may still open up before the end of this year's melt season.

Cruise Ship Pollution in the Arctic

The number of cruise ships visiting the Arctic rose form 50 in 2004 to 250 in 2007.  Most increases were in Nunavut and Greenland (Arctic Waterways Need Protection).
 
Capt. Walter Nadolny, an assistant professor of marine transportation at the Maritime College in New York, spoke at last week's climate change planning conference in Iqaluit (What's Up In Iqaluit).  His talk emphasized pollution issues (Maritime expert urges "no go" Arctic sea lanes):

How do you build an ice road?

Temporary winter roads of ice for trucks are a key part of Arctic transportation infrastructure.  The Alaska North Slope Borough's Transportation Plan explains how they are built and maintained, and what they cost to build. You start with the paperwork:

Airships Over the Arctic

Here's another way to move stuff around the Arctic.

Skyhook International of Calgary, and Boeing, are cooperating to built a fleet of helicopter/dirigible hybrids to move heavy loads in areas where other transportation infrastructure is limited - like the Arctic: Dirigible to carry the load in Arctic development.

The picture at the right is an artist's conception of a Skyhook dirigible delivering a load to an Arctic oil drilling site.  The Skyhook hybrid can carry 80,000 pounds about 200 miles.

Boeing will build them in Pennsylvannia, but "SkyHook will own, maintain and operate the craft...."  Skyhook didn't say how much the airship would cost.  The story notes that "The closest unit currently in existence today is a Chinook helicopter, which carries a price tag of about $50 million but only a fraction of the payload.

Can We Bring Alaska North Slope Gas to Market With LNG Carriers?

Aker Arctic Technologies Arctic-class LNG carrier concept.

Are Arctic-class liquified natural gas (LNG) carriers a reasonable alternative to pipelines for transporting Alaska North Slope gas?  Unlikely, thinks Jim Craig of the Minerals Management Service, as reported by Petroleum News: Icebreaker LNG carriers for Arctic Alaska gas an interesting but challenging concept (June 15, 2008).  Among other things:

What does North America look like to Canada's Northern Transportation Company?

The Inuit-owned Northern Transportation Company Limited (NTCL) provides cargo service from the inland port of Hay River down the MacKenzie River to Canada's Western Arctic and Alaska's North Slope, and from Churchill Manitoba to communities around Hudson Bay. 

A company description of itself for a web page sponsored by Industry Canada (Northern Transportation Company Limited , March 27, 2008) reads:

The Shtokman Field

The Russians hope to begin gas production from the Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea in 2013: Shtokman to produce first gas end 2013 (Reuters, May 28, 2008).  (Click on the map at left to see a slightly bigger version).

There is a lot of gas there, reportedly enough to supply the EU for seven years (Strengthening the strategic high north partnerships, Nortrade, November 30, 2007).

The project is being developed by a company jointly owned by Russia's Gazprom (51%), France's Total (25%) and Norway's StatoilHydro (24%).  Actual ownership of the gas remains in the hands of a Russian firm. 

Vladimir Socor described this arrangement last July (after Total had bought in, but before SatoilHydro had): The Shtokman Gas Deal: An Initial Assessment of Its Implications (Eurasian Daily Monitor, July 17, 2007):

Norwegian Shipping Magnate Disses Arctic Transit

Fred Olsen, Chairman of the Norwegian shipping company, Fred. Olsen & Co, is skeptical that Arctic shipping routes will be very attractive: Norwegian shipping major fears Arctic melting:

Speaking at the conference “Maritimt Forum Nord”, the businessman underlined that the danger of accidents in the Arctic is too big. He also expressed doubt that shipping over the North Pole will be economically profitable, arguing that the demands for ice protected tankers and the short shipping season will be too expensive.

-If I was to decided the shipping and petroleum investments in the Arctic should be put on ice, he said, newspaper Avisa Nordland reports.

Mr. Olsen also highlighted that preparedness and emergence support is non-existent in the area.

   

"Ice Road Truckers"

The History Channel's "Ice Road Truckers" is back for a second season: 'Ice Road Truckers' hits the Arctic in high gear(Verne Gay, Detroit Free Press, June 7):

This time, they're hauling their behemoths over the open ocean, from Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories, to deep out onto the Arctic, where natural gas exploration is under way. This season also stars Alex Debogorski, the so-called "legend" of the Yellowknife trucking community, but who -- far more perilous than a little ice-road trucking -- is father to 11 children. Hugh (the Polar Bear) Rowland is back, and Sunday's episode focuses on his virgin haul out on the ice; and the trip is not without peril. The ice? It averages about 3 feet in thickness, but truckers can still feel the ocean waves underneath. Sound advice: You don't want to stop because if you do ...

Here's the program web site: Ice Road Truckers.

Series starts this Sunday, June 8, at 9 Eastern time.

Note: photo from the "Ice Road Truckers" show website; taken by Ken Woroner.