Some estimates suggest that about 20% of the world’s total oil reserves lie under the Arctic. In 2008, for the first time in human history, two navigation channels through the polar ice field – in the East along Siberia, and in the West along the Canadian islands – were open for a few months, allowing boats to go from Europe to Japan or California via the Bering Straits, rather than the Panama Canal or the Horn of Africa, thereby saving some 4,000 or 5,000 kilometers.
一些统计数字表明，约20 ％的世界石油储量在北极。2008年，两个穿越极地冰川的航道，在人类历史上首次开通了几个月-东沿西伯利亚，西沿加拿大群岛-让船只通过白令海峡从欧洲到达日本或加利福尼亚州，而不是通过巴拿马运河或非洲好望角，从而少走了大约四千或五千公里。