International Arctic Petroleum Cooperation ― Barents Sea Scenarios

The Arctic region contains large amounts of natural resources considered necessary to sustain global economic growth, so it is unsurprising that it is increasingly susceptible to political, economic, environmental, and even military conflicts. This book looks in detail at the preconditions and outlook for international cooperation on the development of Arctic petroleum resources, focusing on Norwegian–Russian cooperation in the Barents Sea towards 2025.

The authors provide a cross-disciplinary approach including geopolitical, institutional, technological, corporate and environmental perspectives to analyse the underlying factors that shape the future development of the region. Three future scenarios are developed, exploring various levels of cooperation and development influenced by and resulting from potential political, commercial and environmental circumstances. Through these scenarios, the book improves understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Arctic petroleum resource development and promotes further consideration of the possible outcomes of future cooperation.

The book should be of interest to students, scholars and policy-makers working in the areas of Arctic studies, oil and gas studies, energy security, global environmental governance, environmental politics and environmental technology.

Anatoli Bourmistrov is Professor and Head of Section at Bodo Graduate School of Business, University of Nordland, Norway and Project Manager at the High North Center for Business.

Frode Mellemvik is Director of the High North Center and Professor at Bodo Graduate School of Business, University of Nordland, Norway.

Alexei Bambulyak is Country Manager, Russia, at the research company Akvaplan-niva, Norway.

Ove Gudmestad is Professor of Marine Technology at the University of Stavanger, Norway.

Indra Overland is Head of the Russia, Eurasia and Arctic Research Group at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs and Professor II at Bodo Graduate School of Business, University of Nordland, Norway.

Anatoly Zolotukhin is Counsellor on International Affairs, Research Director of the Institute of Arctic Petroleum Technologies and Professor of Petroleum Reservoir Engineering at Gubkin University, Moscow, Russia.