New oil, gold found in Siberia

Sino-Russian tensions expected to rise

MOSCOW, Russia (RWN) - What may be the world's largest contiguous gold vein has been found deep under the permafrost of the Siberian tundra, the Russian president announced today.

Scientists at Archangel Camp, 125 miles above the Arctic Circle found what they believe to be a massive formation of gold-bearing ore at a depth of 240 feet.

"We know that this will be a great undertaking for us," Russian president Aleksander Slivka said. "But we know that our citizens will rise to it. For the first time ever, Russia will be truly independent. We have a chip on our side of the table: we know the world needs gold."

Russian scientists working off the coast of the Kamatchka Peninsula also discovered a 1,000 square mile expanse of oil-bearing strata. Exploration companies have surveyed the area before but were unable to find oil in large deposits.

"We were more lucky than good," said Grigory Kaspinov, the research team's leader. "We had some good sonar profiles, we had some good search grids worked out, but in the end it came down to one of our submersible cameras catching the ocean floor 'belching' oil.'"

The effect of the finds on Chinese-Russian relations remains to be seen. The two countries have been increasingly isolated as Islam has gained converts throughout the world. There have been at least five border skirmishes in the last three years between Russian and Chinese forces, and defense analysts have said that China is garrisoning more troops each year along the Russian border.

With its own burgeoning population, and unable to fulfill its own energy needs, China needs help. "If you're China, you've got to be thinking 'Hey, someone just did all the work. How do I get me some of that?'" said Ibn Stearns, a security analyst with The Osmond Foundation for World Peace, a non-partisan think tank in Seattle. "The question I have is: 'When will they act on that impulse?' And if they're even thinking about it, will the Russians look for mutual-defense treaties with some of their former enemies?"

World oil markets reacted glumly to the news of the new find, with per-barrel prices falling 5 percent to $51.

"If it were just a small find, the markets would have been a lot more happy to see it," said Arnab Kartikan, an industry analyst with Cooper, Caller, Aziz in New York. "But this is a huge, huge field, one that could supplant any reserves any nation or cartel currently has. The markets reacted irrationally to the announcement. It will be years before the Russians can get enough capacity online to make a difference in the world supply, but the Middle East-driven market acted like Russia had just started giving away oil. I'd look for the Middle Eastern nations to start cozying up to Russia and for the Russians to use this as a payback for the Islam-sponsored revolutions in some of their former southern republics."



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