Deep Oil Drilling Research Paper

How will the technology advancements in deep sea oil drilling affect the ongoing competition for resources among countries?

IR 310: Peace and conflict Studies
November 25, 2013

Abstract: The goal of this paper is to identify the potential risks that may arise as technology advances are made in extracting natural resources. The focus point will be on deep sea drilling for oil. As the demand for oil increases due to the growth in the world’s population and economies, the search for oil expands to areas where it is more difficult to extract, such as in deeper depths of the ocean. The ocean covers over 70 percent of the earth’s surface and oil industry studies show greater reserves of oil may lie beneath the ocean floor. The objective
The oceans and seas of the world have been used for travel and supply resources for use by many of the world’s citizens. As the population grows and technology advances, individual countries seek the resources necessary to maintain strong economies and employment for their citizens. The exploitation of the resources residing in or beneath the ocean has increased as well. As the easily accessible resources are found and depleted, the more challenging sources of resources are sought and withdrawn using new technologies. Boundaries of ownership for land, especially between countries, is relatively easy to define by the use of maps and visual points of reference. The ownership of the ocean is much more complicated because it has been historically limited to a few miles off the coast. As the advances in technology have made it easier to identify and tap resources farther off the coast, countries have sought to expand their jurisdiction farther and farther off their coasts. Even without the ability to tap the oceans deep resources, countries have sought to expand their control over the ocean in the event resources and methods to tap them are discovered in the
The UN website describes this convention by stating “In short, the Convention is an unprecedented attempt by the international community to regulate all aspects of the resources of the sea and uses of the ocean, and thus bring a stable order to mankind 's very source of life.” (UN p2) Despite this lofty goal, when the control of a resource and economic benefit to a country is at stake, the nicely worded idealism gives way to the interpretation of law and ways to bend it to one’s favor. To recognize the desire by coastal countries to have some control over the waters touching their coast, the Law of the Sea defined the various degrees of control a country would have extending from its coast. The first band is the territorial limit, extended to 12 miles from the coast. For the island nations, that boundary extends from the outer islands and makes the open water between the islands part of the territorial waters. The concept of the “right of innocent passage” recognizes that there are geographic areas where a ship may pass through the territorial waters of another country because it is the shortest route between two destinations. Laws governing these passageways recognized the need for reasonableness in travel and making over 100 straits