Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reached the deal in April last year, ending a 40-year dispute over a 176,000-square-kilometre (67,950-square-mile) maritime area straddling their economic zones in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.

The accord was unanimously ratified by the Norwegian parliament, but still needs approval from the Russian Duma before it can go into effect, clearing the way for both countries to begin charting the seabed.

"The Russians are in the process of handling the case, from what I understand," Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told parliament.

"This is the beginning of a new era of Russian-Norwegian cooperation," he was quoted as saying by the NTB news agency.

The Arctic seabed is believed to hold 90 billion barrels, or 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and 30 percent of the gas resources yet to be found, according to the US Geological Survey.

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News