Oceanic Shelf as a New Area of Development for the World Economy

Abstract

With the depletion of natural resources in old developed parts of the world there is a need to expand the resource base in new areas. Since the beginning of the 1950s, new resource areas in developed countries have been introduced. Large resource bases targeting both domestic consumption and export were created there. They had changed signifi cantly location of global mining. The energy crisis of the 1970s caused the development of energy production on the oceanic shelf. In recent decades the interest in the development and redistribution of global spaces – oceanic, air, cosmic, informational and circumpolar spaces – is growing. The value of the oceanic shelf as a new area of development is permanently growing. Currently a third of the planet’s mineral resources is produced on the shelf. The development of offshore hydrocarbon production takes a special place. From 1991 the “Deepwater Club” included most of the coastal countries, which accounted for a third of the world’s production of hydrocarbons. With the development of production in the Arctic, this share is expected to increase to 50%. The development of marine mining gave an impetus to the intensive development of coastal zones. Natural resource factor of economic development has historically tended to continental sources. In developed countries in the era of scientifi c and technological revolution territorial shifts in location of the economy had initially shifted to new resource areas, now – to the oceanic shelf where the convergence of oceanic and terrestrial economies takes place.