Antarctica the world's southernmost and iciest continent holds abundance of hidden minerals and energy sources according to a report Russia has found vast oil and gas reserves in the Antarctic much of it in areas claimed by the United Kingdom the report citing evidence given to the common environment audit committee says reserves totaling 511 billion barrels of oil which is said to be about 10 times the north se's entire 50-year out put has been reported to Moscow by Russian research ships this follows a series of surveys carried out by the Alexander karpinsky vessel operated by Rosio the Russian agency charged with finding mineral reserves for commercial exploitation despite Antarctica being projected by the 1959 Antarctic treaty that bans all mineral or oil developments UK's members of parliament are raising their concerns they say the surveys carried out by Russia are preparations to bring in drilling rigs to exploit the pristine region for fossil fuels the UK's interests in Antarctica are overseen by its foreign office but it has been accused of ignoring the emerging crisis after David brutley last week told the EAC that his department is trusting Russian assurances that they are just conducting scientific research there for all the latest news download the weon app And subscribe to our YouTube channel