Russia found 511 billion barrels of oil beneath Antarctica — nearly double Saudi Arabia’s reserves and it’s all illegal to drill

"Russian geological surveys aboard the research vessel Akademik Alexander Karpinsky have

mapped sedimentary formations beneath Antarctica's Weddell Sea that could hold roughly 511 billion barrels of oil — nearly double Saudi Arabia's proven reserves and roughly 10 times the North Sea's total historical production. Russia's state geological company Rosgeo has described the surveys, which intensified between 2020 and 2024, as scientific research conducted under the Antarctic Treaty. But the 1991 Madrid Protocol explicitly bans all commercial oil and mineral extraction on the continent — meaning even if the reserves are real, no country can legally drill a single barrel." msn