The Race to the Poles

This past Thursday, Canada and Russia tried to work out claims over the Arctic as each country looked to its energy riches and new shipping routes made increasingly possible by the melting Polar ice. 
Along with Canada and Russia, Norway, Denmark, and the United States are all at odds over how to divide up the Arctic seabed. Why? According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic is thought to hold 90 billion barrels of oil and 30 percent of the world's untapped gas resources.
Every winter, the Arctic ice shelf returns less and less making the seabed more accessible.
In an effort to solidify the idea that the North Pole has been claimed since 2007 (Here: Quest for the Poles), Russia will boost its research efforts next month by launching a drifting research station. Russia must have scientific data of such energy sources, prove that the people of Russia need said energy and submit them to the United Nations in 2013 (matching the claim made by Canada expected for that year.)
The two Arctic nations claim the Lomonosov Ridge, a mountain chain running underneath the Arctic, as an extension of their continental shelf. AP