Latest technological marvel in the Arctic oil and gas rush 

Built by Samsung Heavy Industries for Russian shipping company Sovcomflot Group, the Vasily Dinkov is one of the most advanced Arctic oil tankers in the world. One end of the 70,000-ton leviathan is fitted with an ice-breaking bow, the other with a more conventional open-sea bow. The propeller system can rotate 360 degrees so the tanker can ply the open sea or plough through ice without sacrificing fuel efficiency.

Six months later, the tanker's cutting-edge design passed its first big test, delivering a shipment of crude oil from the Varandey oil terminal in the Barents Sea to the Newfoundland port of Come by Chance. It was the first time such a shipment had been made from the treacherous, icy waters of the Barents Sea without an icebreaker escort.

"Our company has created a unique sea-export system which makes it possible to transport large quantities of oil to Polar regions," boasted Vagit Alekperov, CEO of Russian energy giant Lukoil, which owns the terminal. "It is unrivalled in the world."

The tanker's maiden journey is just one example of the impressive amounts of money and brainpower being invested to unlock the vast petroleum deposits buried deep below the Arctic. It is a phenomenon that is already making waves in Canada's Far North. In June, British oil giant BP announced it would spend $1.2-billion to explore a block of the Beaufort Sea put out for bid by the federal government. It was the biggest sum ever committed to the hunt for petroleum in this country, and it followed the $585-million pledged last year by Exxon Mobil and Canadian subsidiary Imperial Oil, to probe off the coast of the Northwest Territories.

The potential riches are breathtaking. Last month, the U. S. Geological Survey estimated nearly a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered petroleum reserves lie in the Arctic. It is estimated to hold 90 billion barrels of undiscovered oil, more than the proven reserves of Venezuela. The USGS's latest assessment says the Arctic is even better endowed with natural gas, holding 1,670 trillion cubic feet, roughly equal to the proven reserves of the most gas-rich country on the planet, Russia.