Only thr Middle East has more oil reserves – 871 billion barrels – according to on OPEC’s most recent annual report.
The Weddell Sea reserves, which were discovered by the Russians, are almost double those of Saudi Arabia – the country with the second-largest oil reserves (behind Venezuela).
However, the exploitation of hydrocarbons in Antarctica is strictly prohibited.
The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 decreed that Antarctica is reserved for peaceful activities only, and may become “neither the scene nor the object of international disputes”
