Detroit — Despite Ottawa's objections, the U.S. government is moving to auction off oil and gas exploration leases in the Beaufort Sea that include 16,047 acres of land claimed by Canada as part of its sovereign territory.
"There is a small section [of the auction] that is under dispute between the United States and Canada," Robin Lee Cacy with the U.S. government's minerals management service in Alaska confirmed yesterday.
Ms. Cacy was at a loss to explain why the United States is auctioning off land that both countries are squabbling over. "I can't answer that . . . [that] decision was made at a higher level than me."
It's the latest volley in a decades-long tug-of-war over potentially lucrative offshore petroleum reserves that has Canadian officials privately rolling their eyes over U.S. tactics. "They're trying to aid and abet their sovereignty claim," one official said.
The Canadian government has written Washington protesting the planned leasing out of the territory in question, but the U.S. call for bids is expected to come this week and the auction, scheduled to end by Sept. 24, will include four offshore blocks that both countries consider theirs.
Ms. Cacy says the United States will refrain from opening, or processing, the bids for the disputed lands for time being, but could process them whenever Washington decides "it's in the best interests of the United States to open them."
The four blocks in dispute are a tiny fraction of the overall U.S. petroleum lease auction.
But the Beaufort Sea's petroleum riches are potentially huge. With new exploratory techniques and modern drilling rigs, petroleum explorers are optimistic that there could be as much as 54 trillion cubic feet of gas offshore northern Canada and Alaska.
Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal, who was in Detroit to launch a cross-border probe into last week's blackouts, said he retains confidence that the United States will do the right thing in the end and avoid finalizing deals to lease out the disputed offshore parcels.
"This is a disputed area. It's a disputed boundary. There has never been any leases committed to this area and we expect the [United States] will be consistent with that and, because it's a disputed area, there won't be leases put on that."
Ms. Cacy said the last time disputed blocks were offered for lease was more than one decade ago in the 1980s. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman André Lemay said Ottawa believes Washington can't extend its sovereignty on its own. "We don't believe that the [United States] can do anything unilaterally."
Canadian officials privately suggest that Washington will get no takers for the leases on the disputed blocks because interest in offshore auctions is mild right now. The move to auction the blocks has forced Canada to file diplomatic objections to keep its claim alive. "It's a little dance we end up doing," one federal official said.
© The Globe and Mail
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