Arctic reserves won't replace OPEC crude: study - Yahoo! News

HOUSTON (Reuters) - There isn't enough oil under the Arctic Circle to replace crude from
OPEC' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> OPEC, according to a study released on Wednesday by analyst group Wood MacKenzie and seismic research firm Fubro Robertson.
Under the circle, 233 billion barrels of oil equivalent in crude and natural gas have been discovered and 166 billion barrels of oil equivalent are thought to remain undiscovered, said the study's lead author, Andrew Latham, vice president of energy consulting at Wood McKenzie.
Eighty-five percent of discovered reserves and 74 percent of expected reserves is made up of natural gas, Latham said.
"The oil-gas mix is not ideal because remote gas is often harder to transport to markets," Latham told reporters in Houston.
"In addition, export and technology constraints are expected to delay production as a large portion of the communal gas until 2050," he said.
One area where the oil and gas mix is more appealing is Alaska's North Slope, an area oil companies have sought to open to exploration in face of stiff opposition from environmentalists.
The remaining North Slope reserves, estimated between 5 billion and 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent, could be developed at a break-even price between $20 and $30 per barrel, according to the study.
OPEC's 11 member countries hold about two-thirds of the world's oil reserves.