Russian geologists believe there is a good chance to find oil and gas outside the coast of Spitsbergen in the Arctic. However, Norwegian authorities are unlikely to allow such activity.

In Last week's Arctic Shelf conference in Murmansk, a Russian petroleum expert said that there are good chances to find oil and gas reserves on the shelf of the Svalbard archipelago. Russians have conducted several studies of the geology west of the archipelago, and say that the geological structures are promising. It is noticed that Russian research vessel "Professor Kyrentsov" has done several studies of the geology outside of Svalbard with permission from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. However, Norway will not give permission to further studies. Russia