Chapter 3 An International Legal-Political Framework for Exploring and Exploiting 

 the Mineral Resources Underlying the High Seas 



I. OBJECTIVES OF FRAMEWORK 



In light of the poUcies laid down by Congress 

 and the President and the present and prospective 

 "state of the art" with respect to exploration and 

 exploitation of the mineral resources underlying 

 the high seas, the International Panel concludes 

 that any international legal-political framework 

 (i.e., the principles and rules, procedures and 

 institutions) for the conduct of such exploration 

 and exploitation should be judged by the extent to 

 which it achieves the following objectives: 



a. It must encourage scientific and technolog- 

 ical efforts and the other major capital investments 

 needed for the exploration and exploitation of the 

 mineral resources underlying the high seas. We 

 know little yet about the nature, extent and 

 location of these resources, but technical capa- 

 bility already exists for the extraction of various 

 submarine mineral resources down to and even 

 beyond the 200 meter isobath. 



The Panel on Marine Resources has found that 

 the United States petroleum industry has devel- 

 oped a unique and successful technology for 

 working at sea and development of this technology 

 is continuing; that more than one-sixth of United 

 States production of oil and gas now comes from 

 offshore wells; and that the oil and gas underlying 

 the high seas may offer an important opportunity 

 to increase significantly our domestic reserves of 

 these fossil fuels and help offset the forecasted 

 widening gap between domestic demand and 

 production.^ It is estimated that 181 billion 



See Report of Panel on Marine Resources. The panel 

 also reports that technological capability now exists to 

 conduct geophysical surveys in waters of any depth 

 anywhere in the world. 



About 100 core holes have already been drilled in 

 waters up to nearly 5,000 feet deep. In 1961, the 

 petroleum industry drilled several experimental core holes 

 in 12,000 feet of water as part of the early phase of 

 Project Mohole. A drilling ship has been launched which 

 win be used by the petroleum industry to core short holes 

 into the sea floor for the Joint Oceanographic Institu- 

 tions' Deep Earth Sampling program (JOIDES) in waters 

 up to 20,000 feet deep. " 



To date, however, the deepest water in which an 

 exploration or development well has been drilled is 632 

 feet off Southern California and in the Mediterranean, off 

 Libya. There seems to be little doubt that exploratory 

 and production weUs can now be dnlled successfully in 

 waters as deep as 1,000 feet. 



barrels of petroleum and 1,440 billion cubic feet 

 of gas may ultimately be produced from the 

 subsoil of the bed of the sea between the 

 200-meter isobath and the 2,500 meter isobath.^ 



While there is a relatively short-run prospect 

 that this oil and gas will be exploited, the Panel on 

 Marine Resources does not expect that large-scale 

 exploitation of the solid mineral resources under- 

 lying the high seas will take place before the turn 

 of the century. Economic feasibility, more than 

 technological difficulty, stands in the way of 

 earUer exploitation.^ 



However, advancing technology, the raw mate- 

 rial requirements of a burgeoning world popula- 

 tion, with consequent rising prices for certain 

 minerals, together with the search by particular 

 companies for assured sources of raw materials, 

 may make it economical to exploit these minerals 

 at greater and greater depths during the coming 

 decades. The international legal-poUtical frame- 

 work should serve to accelerate efforts leading to 

 such economic exploitation. 



b. The international legal-poUtical framework 

 must give the United States and its nationals a fair 

 chance to engage in exploration and exploitation 

 of the mineral resources underlying the high seas. 



c. The framework must provide for orderly and 

 economic exploitation of the resources. 



d. To these ends, it must recognize exclusive 

 claims to explore and exploit the mineral resources 

 of large enough submarine areas for long enough 

 periods of time to provide the incentive to 

 undertake this activity. It must further provide 



Production capability, so far, has gone only to 340 

 feet. However, some companies believe that, in the near 

 future, permanent platforms bearing well-head and pro- 

 ducing equipment can be installed in 600 feet of water or 

 more. 



The panel concludes that "there are few purely 

 physical oi technological barriers to developing marine 

 petroleum deposits, these are completely interdependent 

 with the economic limitations." If, for example, "a large 

 enough field could be found offshore, say several billion 

 barrels of [petroleum] reserves, it is likely that it could be 

 developed economically in almost any water depth with 

 technology that exists now or which could be employed 

 in a short time." Ibid. 



^Ibid. 



^Ibid. 



VIII-IO 



