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Article: Antarctica: a continent is placed off limits to oil exploration.
- Article from:
- The Oil Daily
- Article date:
- October 8, 1991
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Energy Intelligence Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The nations of the Antarctic Treaty have signed an agreement to ban exploration for oil and other mineral resources on that continent for at least 50 years.
The ban will take effect when the 26 countries with voting rights ratify the document, something expected to take at least two years. In the United States, two-thirds of the Senate must approve the protocol.
Article 7 of the protocol text says: "Any activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research, shall be prohibited."
To environmentalists, it is a victory. To the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, it is a shortsighted decision that locks away a ...