mr.x
April 20th, 2007, 02:43 AM
Russia proposes Bering Sea tunnel, railway to B.C.
Miro Cernetig and Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007
VICTORIA -- Nobody has been able to walk between Asia and North America for thousands of years, when the intercontinental land bridge was supposedly swallowed by the Bering Sea. But a scheme floated Wednesday would rectify that by building the world's longest undersea tunnel.
Government officials in Moscow told reporters that Russia is seriously backing a $65-billion US project to bore a 102-kilometre tunnel under the Bering Sea from Siberia to Alaska, and build a railway link from Siberia through the tunnel to the railhead at Fort Nelson, B.C.
The plan, which has been floated since 1905 by a Russian czar and various other dreamers, is being revived by a consortium of Russian companies that want to create a conduit to send Siberia's vast oil, gas and hydro-electricity resources to North America.
"This will be a business project, not a political one," Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia's agency for special economic zones, told Bloomberg news Wednesday. The scheme is to be presented to the Canadian and U.S. governments next week, a Russian Economic Ministry official promised.
It would be one of the most challenging engineering projects ever attempted. But it may be difficult to get the idea taken seriously.
"Maybe it's something we can do after the Olympics," quipped Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of B.C.
"I think I read something about this in a CIA fact book four or five years ago. Do you think they know the challenges of getting this [the rail link from Alaska to Fort Nelson] by B.C. first nations?"
The tunnel idea has yet to hit radar screens in Ottawa.
Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said Wednesday he was unaware of the project and couldn't comment. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs also said it hadn't heard about the tunnel, which would dwarf the 50-kilometre Chunnel between England and France.
"We are not aware of any Canadian government representatives that have been contacted with respect to this proposal," said Brooke Grantham, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
"This project was not raised at the recent high-level Canada Russia Business Summit in Ottawa in March."
The reason for the mystery is that it all might just be a negotiating ploy, some suggest.
European energy-market observer Derek Brower called the proposed project "absurd" and suggested the Russian government is playing political games to threaten its European customers to sign energy deals.
Brower, who covers the industry for the London-based Petroleum Economist newsmagazine, said the bulk of Russia's oil and gas reserves are thousands of kilometres from the Bering Strait. Moscow has been threatening to expand exports to China as a way to intimidate European countries that have been looking to reduce their dependence on Russian gas supplies.
"Russia has been saying to Europe, 'Listen, if you don't like us, we've always got China to sell our gas to.' To a large extent Europe has been scared about this," Brower said.
The threats have resulted in many European customers scrambling to sign long-term contracts with the Russian government-owned Gazprom.
"It's even difficult for Russia to supply China, the fastest-growing energy market in the world, let alone to talk about what sounds like the most absurdly expensive and technologically difficult project to deliver," Brower said.
"It just sounds completely outrageous to me."
mcernetig@png.canwest.com
- - -
You can now listen to every Vancouver Sun story on our new digital edition.
Free to full-week print subscribers or sign up for a 7-day free trial.
www.vancouversun.com/digital.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
Miro Cernetig and Peter O'Neil, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2007
VICTORIA -- Nobody has been able to walk between Asia and North America for thousands of years, when the intercontinental land bridge was supposedly swallowed by the Bering Sea. But a scheme floated Wednesday would rectify that by building the world's longest undersea tunnel.
Government officials in Moscow told reporters that Russia is seriously backing a $65-billion US project to bore a 102-kilometre tunnel under the Bering Sea from Siberia to Alaska, and build a railway link from Siberia through the tunnel to the railhead at Fort Nelson, B.C.
The plan, which has been floated since 1905 by a Russian czar and various other dreamers, is being revived by a consortium of Russian companies that want to create a conduit to send Siberia's vast oil, gas and hydro-electricity resources to North America.
"This will be a business project, not a political one," Maxim Bystrov, deputy head of Russia's agency for special economic zones, told Bloomberg news Wednesday. The scheme is to be presented to the Canadian and U.S. governments next week, a Russian Economic Ministry official promised.
It would be one of the most challenging engineering projects ever attempted. But it may be difficult to get the idea taken seriously.
"Maybe it's something we can do after the Olympics," quipped Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of B.C.
"I think I read something about this in a CIA fact book four or five years ago. Do you think they know the challenges of getting this [the rail link from Alaska to Fort Nelson] by B.C. first nations?"
The tunnel idea has yet to hit radar screens in Ottawa.
Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said Wednesday he was unaware of the project and couldn't comment. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs also said it hadn't heard about the tunnel, which would dwarf the 50-kilometre Chunnel between England and France.
"We are not aware of any Canadian government representatives that have been contacted with respect to this proposal," said Brooke Grantham, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs.
"This project was not raised at the recent high-level Canada Russia Business Summit in Ottawa in March."
The reason for the mystery is that it all might just be a negotiating ploy, some suggest.
European energy-market observer Derek Brower called the proposed project "absurd" and suggested the Russian government is playing political games to threaten its European customers to sign energy deals.
Brower, who covers the industry for the London-based Petroleum Economist newsmagazine, said the bulk of Russia's oil and gas reserves are thousands of kilometres from the Bering Strait. Moscow has been threatening to expand exports to China as a way to intimidate European countries that have been looking to reduce their dependence on Russian gas supplies.
"Russia has been saying to Europe, 'Listen, if you don't like us, we've always got China to sell our gas to.' To a large extent Europe has been scared about this," Brower said.
The threats have resulted in many European customers scrambling to sign long-term contracts with the Russian government-owned Gazprom.
"It's even difficult for Russia to supply China, the fastest-growing energy market in the world, let alone to talk about what sounds like the most absurdly expensive and technologically difficult project to deliver," Brower said.
"It just sounds completely outrageous to me."
mcernetig@png.canwest.com
- - -
You can now listen to every Vancouver Sun story on our new digital edition.
Free to full-week print subscribers or sign up for a 7-day free trial.
www.vancouversun.com/digital.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007