Arctic oil extraction eyed

LAS VEGAS, March 21 (UPI) -- A Canadian researcher is backing a U.S. estimate of Arctic oil reserves.

Las Vegas-based Arctic Oil and Gas has said that new geological data suggests "potentially vast" petroleum resources of 400 billion barrels.

Now a Canadian researcher who recently signed on as the firm's chief scientific adviser is supporting that figure, Canadian news services and the Edmonton Journal reported.

The company has filed a claim with the United Nations to act as the sole "development agent" of Arctic seabed oil and gas as talk of global warming has put a rush on efforts to extract the resources.

The Canadian government has so far dismissed the company's claim over Arctic oil.

In its latest statement about the polar seabed's potential for petroleum deposits, Arctic Oil & Gas cites recent scientific evidence that huge, floating mats of azolla -- a prehistoric fern -- decomposed soon after the age of the dinosaurs and exist today as a hydrocarbon resource trapped in layers of rock below the polar icecap.

A former geoscientist with the Geological Survey of Canada confirmed the research as being highly valid and is behind the firm's claim.

Some scientists have predicted that global warming could leave the entire Arctic virtually ice-free for months at a time within 20 years.