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The starting positions for the dash for oil in the Arctic have been laid out in the first map identifying how fuel-hungry nations will carve up the region.

Melting ice cover in the Arctic and advances in technology have made drilling for oil and gas in Arctic waters an increasingly realistic prospect. A fifth of the world’s remaining untapped oil is estimated to be hidden under the seabed in the region and at least six nations have a direct stake in laying claim to it.

The new map, drawn up by researchers at Durham University, identifies the areas where the six countries’ claims are virtually uncontestable and where they are likely to be hotly disputed.

It also reveals two separate zones referred to as "the area" that lie outside the writ of any individual country and will be controlled for the benefit of all nations by the International Seabed Authority.

Martin Pratt, director of research at Durham’s International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU), was prompted to try to define the Arctic rights boundaries for the first time after Russia’s controvertial seabed flag-planting stunt last year.

Russia was the first country to make an official play for the Arctic seabed when it lodged its claim to a huge tract that included the Lomonosov Ridge in 2001. The Russians were told by the United Nations that they needed more convincing data on the geology of the sea floor before the claim could be accepted.

In 2007 the Russian Government ordered one of its submarines — thought to have been carrying out detailed mapping of the seafloor — to plant a flag on the seabed to stake its claim to the area, in what was regarded by many observers as a provocative action.

Russia is likely to find some of its claims contested by the United States, Canada and, through its control of Greenland, Denmark. It is already in dispute with Norway over parts of the Barents Sea. Iceland is the sixth country within the Arctic circle.

Mr Pratt said that the carving up of the Arctic’s natural resources was likely to be less of a free-for-all than many people expected because sufficient international rules were already in place to help to determine who had a right to which area.

“It’s not going to be so much a dash as a fairly well-defined march,” he said. “There are clearly set out regulations by the United Nations as to what they are entitled to. It’s not quite the free-for-all that has been suggested.”

Nevertheless, there will be disputes and most of these will depend on where the continental shelf is positioned and whether ridges, notably the Lomonosov Ridge, count as part of them.

Researchers involved in drawing the new map — believed to be the first to identify where the disputed territories will to be found — examined seabed data and international treaties and agreements to determine how the Arctic is likely to be divided. Nations wanting to claim rights to the fossil fuel reserves and minerals trapped under the seabed are able to claim territory up to 200 miles from their shores. They can extend their claim further depending on where the continental shelf lies.

Mr Pratt said: “The results have huge implications for policy-making as the rush to carve up the polar region continues.

“It’s a cartographic means of showing, and an attempt to collate information and predict the way in which the Arctic region may eventually be divided up. The freezing land and seas of the Arctic are likely to be getting hotter in terms of geopolitics; the Durham map aims to assist national and international policy-makers across the world.”

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