Statoil in test case as Canada extends seabed

Oslo

NORWAY'S Statoil risks millions of dollars in extra costs in Canada - a test case that could spell problems for other oil firms too as coastal states extend their seabed territories far into resource-rich ocean depths.

Coastal nations are using UN laws to extend and define new limits to their seabed territories, pushing beyond a previously established 370-kilometre zone for drilling and mining as technology opens new frontiers in finding deepwater oil and gas.

But that extended territory comes with a bill to pay a percentage of future revenues to the UN body that monitors the international seabed - something governments are seeking to pass on to oil and mining firms.

The rules - articles of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea - have thus far been irrelevant because the regions beyond the previous limit are so remote they would have co…