Antarctic drilling ban to continue

Press, 12 October 1979, Page 3

Antarctic drilling ban to continue

NZPA Washington ! i Antarctic treaty nationsl; have agreed to continue a Is ban on drilling for oil or gas on the continent and its off- < shore waters, a State De-|i partment official said yester-: i day. The ban, which was put II into effect two years ago,[ also covers exploration and; exploitation of other miner- i als. The treaty nations, in-b eluding New Zealand, re-af-l firmed the voluntary re- I straint agreement during a : three-week meeting which [ ended in Washington last: Friday. The decision was made be-1' cause it was considered suf- i ficient progress was being made on moves to establishl a permanent treaty on min- j eral resources, including oil, i according to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries Affairs (Mr J. Negroponte). Mr Negroponte was the | chief American representative at the meeting. Mr Negroponte said the 12 treaty nations will stage a special meeting in 1980, perhaps in Japan, to discuss a minerals resources treaty or regime. However, he made clear it is not certain whether mineral exploration i; or exploitation will ever be permitted in Antarctica. ’ He said members have I agreed a regime should in-i elude means for assessing; the possible ; mpact of min-I eral resource activities on I the Antarctic environment,; and determining whether i such activities would be; acceptable. If they were ruled satis-I factory, the regime would have to set rules to govern the ecological, technological, political and economic aspects, and to protect the Anatarctic environment. "We are looking at developing a mineral resources: regime in the next two to! four years,” Mr Negroponte; said. “The negotiations are on I track,” he said, "and whatl has been done (at the Wash-

ington meeting) shows that) the members are prepared to! go about this issue in a con-; structive way.” Mr Negroponte said that a]: convention on Antarctic liv-; ing marine resources is vir-i jtually complete. The agree-1 ment will be signed in Can- : Iberra early next year. He said there is no com1 mercial minerals exploration j in Antarctica at present. 1 I Thus the need for min-| ieral resources agreement is i 'not “quite as pressing,” as! ] the requirement for a con!vention on marine resources.' ■ Some nations already are' ! krill fishing experimentallyl land are trying to find a (commercial use for the I shrimp-like species that exlists in vast numbers in Antarctic waters. However, he added that! there is increasing interest; i in the possibility of oil in I

the Antarctic and that experts considered exploration; and exploitation tech-[ nologically possible in the' next 10 to 20 years. “There is more interest; now than ever before in' creating a minerals regime,” said Mr Negroponte. A State Department Antarctic expert emphasised : there is no firm evidence | that Antarctica contains Oil. ] However, because of its size I and geological make-up, I there is probably a ‘fairly high probability’ of hydroi carbons. ; One report in Washington ’said recently that the United -States Geological Survey has (estimated, on sketchy information, that Antarctica’s continental shelf could contai n as much as , 45,000,000,000 barrels of oil. j Because of the growing energy crisis interest is growing in Antarctica as a [possible Oil source. ; New Zealand strongly supports the establishment of a I system to control the search I for oil and its exploitation if found.