The Arctic holds enormous quantities of oil, natural gas, minerals, freshwater, fish, and renewable energy potential. It is one of the most resource-rich regions on Earth, and as ice coverage shrinks, access to these resources is increasing. Here’s what lies above the Arctic Circle and why it matters.
Oil and Natural Gas
The Arctic’s most talked-about resources are fossil fuels. A major assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that roughly 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, 1,669 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids remain in the Arctic. To put those numbers in perspective, the oil alone would supply the entire world for about two and a half years at current consumption rates. About 84 percent of these reserves are expected to be offshore, beneath the Arctic Ocean floor.
Russia, the United States (Alaska), Canada, Norway, and Denmark (Greenland) all claim territory in the Arctic and have active or planned extraction operations. Russia already produces significant amounts of natural gas from its Arctic territories, particularly the Yamal Peninsula. Norway extracts oil and gas from the Barents Sea. Alaska’s North Slope has been a major U.S. oil-producing region for decades.
Minerals and Metals
Beyond fossil fuels, the Arctic contains large deposits of metals that modern economies depend on. The region hosts significant reserves of nickel, copper, gold, zinc, tin, uranium, iron, chromium, and rare earth elements. Diamond deposits also exist in parts of Arctic Russia and Canada.
The scale of Arctic mining is already globally significant. Arctic operations account for roughly 14 percent of the world’s nickel production and over 15 percent of global platinum output. The region also holds an estimated 41 percent of the world’s known palladium reserves, a metal critical for catalytic converters in vehicles and for electronics manufacturing. Dozens of individual deposits have been identified: at least 43 gold deposits, 16 zinc deposits, 11 tin deposits, and 8 copper deposits across the Arctic zone, according to geological surveys of the circumpolar belt.
Russia’s Norilsk complex in Siberia is one of the largest single mining operations on Earth, producing nickel, copper, and platinum group metals. Canada’s Arctic territories contain diamond and gold mines. Greenland has attracted interest for its rare earth element deposits, which are essential for batteries, wind turbines, and electronics.
Freshwater and Ice
About three-quarters of Earth’s freshwater is locked in glaciers and ice sheets, and the Arctic holds a substantial share. The Greenland Ice Sheet alone contains roughly 8 percent of the planet’s glacial ice, second only to Antarctica’s 91 percent. Smaller glaciers across Arctic Canada, Svalbard, Iceland, and Russia store additional freshwater.
This ice is not being “used” as a water supply in the traditional sense, but it plays a critical role in regulating global sea levels and ocean circulation. As Arctic temperatures rise, glacial melt contributes directly to rising seas. The Greenland Ice Sheet is currently losing ice at an accelerating rate, releasing hundreds of billions of tons of freshwater into the ocean each year. Arctic rivers, including some of the world’s largest like Russia’s Ob, Yenisei, and Lena, also carry enormous volumes of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, influencing ocean salinity and marine ecosystems.
Fisheries and Marine Life
Arctic and sub-Arctic waters support some of the most productive fisheries in the world. The Barents Sea, the Bering Sea, and waters around Iceland and Norway yield massive catches of cod, pollock, haddock, herring, and shrimp. Alaska’s fisheries alone produce billions of dollars in seafood annually, and Norway and Russia rely heavily on Barents Sea fish stocks.
As ocean temperatures shift, fish populations are migrating northward into previously ice-covered waters, opening new fishing grounds but also creating geopolitical tension over who has rights to these stocks. In 2018, nine nations and the European Union signed an agreement to prevent unregulated commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean until scientists better understand the changing ecosystem.
Renewable Energy Potential
The Arctic also has significant renewable energy resources, though they remain less developed than fossil fuel extraction. Geothermal energy is the standout: Iceland generates nearly all of its electricity from geothermal and hydroelectric sources, and geothermal electricity is also produced in parts of Russia and Alaska. Several Arctic countries use geothermal heat directly for warming buildings and water, including Iceland, Russia, the United States, Canada, and Norway.
Hydroelectric power is a major energy source across Arctic Scandinavia and northern Canada. Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Canada all rely on hydroelectric generation in their northern regions. Wind energy potential is also strong in many coastal Arctic areas, where consistent winds can drive turbines year-round, though extreme cold and remote locations make installation and maintenance expensive. Solar energy is limited by months of winter darkness, but long summer days offer seasonal generation potential in some areas.
Why Arctic Resources Are Contested
Eight nations border the Arctic: Russia, Canada, the United States, Norway, Denmark (through Greenland), Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Russia controls the largest Arctic coastline and has been the most aggressive in staking resource claims, including planting a flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole in 2007. Under international law, countries can claim exclusive economic rights to resources within 200 nautical miles of their coastline, and several nations have filed claims to extend those boundaries based on underwater continental shelf geography.
The combination of retreating sea ice and rising global demand for energy, metals, and rare earth elements has made the Arctic a growing focus of international competition. Shipping routes that were once blocked by ice, particularly the Northern Sea Route along Russia’s coast and the Northwest Passage through Canada, are becoming navigable for longer periods each year. These routes shorten transit times between Europe and Asia by thousands of miles, adding strategic value on top of the region’s raw material wealth.