October 2011
Columns
Oil and Gas in the Capitals
Earlier this year, the treaty establishing the boundary between Norway and Russia in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean was ratified by the two countries’ respective parliaments. In contrast with the 1965 treaty between Norway and the UK, which established the median line of the North Sea as their maritime border, the present treaty builds on a compromise between the median line, advocated by Norway, and the sectoral line claimed by Russia. By marking a border, the treaty brings to the area legal clarity and predictability, which are preconditions of a secure framework for oil and gas exploration.
