The Oil Drum

The US Geological Survey is lining up a project with BP and Statoil to find oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean, under the auspices of a flagship scientific initiative intended to tackle global warming.

There seems to be a scramble by all the members of Big Oil to try and tap whatever resources there maybe in the arctic now that the ice is receeding due to GW making previously impassable areas easier to get to to survey and potentially drill.

Some UK scientists, notably Professor Chris Rapley, Director of the Antarctic society, are "very uncomfortable with a project that simply was out to log the hydrocarbon reserves of the Arctic as a geological activity. I don't think that fits very comfortably within either the scientific guidelines or the ethical underpinning of the IPY" [International Polar Year]

The Guardian points to some geologists reasoning for this but doesn't mention who they are

Geologists estimate that a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves lie under the Arctic, and analysts have predicted a 21st-century goldrush to tap them as the Arctic Ocean's ice cover retreats.

I'd like to know where this fits into the above table of proven reserves etc. I haven't found any more info that backs up this estimate, and I'm a bit cautious to believe it. If there are huge fields to be found in the arctic, should they be drilled? Theoretically if a huge new supply of resources came online, should we be encouraging it in light of climate change? Well, the clear puritan answer is no, but what do people think about postponing the peak versus preventing climate change. If we are facing a serious energy gap before we can implement any better solutions or reduce our consumption, should we risk more climate change problems and global warming as a last resort to prevent die-off?

P.S.
I've brought this to the table but I don't know very much about the science, please enlighten me.

P.P.S.
There's another related article here
And oil hit $72 Guardian attributes it to Iran, and mentions in the likelihood that it will stay there: "There could be spikes higher but the long-term trend should be down" hmm.

Another one to add to the list of Decliners?