ARCTIC: EU to Phase Out Russian Gas & more – 3rd Feb 2026

Aang from Oakley! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 3rd of February twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Russia may be the largest Arctic nation by size, but its northern economy is about to shrink. On Monday the 26th of January, the EU formally adopted a motion to phase out imports of Russian natural gas by late twenty twenty-seven. With around eighty percent of Russia’s natural gas originating in the Arctic, and the EU being Russia’s largest customer for the product, this will have massive ramifications for industries across the Arctic.

As part of the motion, there will be big financial penalties for any nation that violates the rules, reaching as high as three hundred percent of the transaction’s value.

Other countries in the Arctic may benefit, with Norway and the US both set to be Europe’s next gas supplier.

Russia won’t give up its northern economy lightly, though. The country has a fleet of so-called shadow vessels that operate illegally, exporting goods from the Arctic across the world. Many nations have been trying to combat this flow of illegal ships, but according to a report by the Arctic news agency The Barents Observer published on Wednesday the 28th, the Russian government has warned it would take security measures to protect its shadow fleet.

The Russian Maritime Board will propose measures that are likely to include the deployment of naval forces to protect ships serving Russian interests. If passed, this will see the Russian navy travelling around the world, tasked with protecting Russian interests.

As Russia struggles to expand its northern business interests, the US is looking to the deep sea for new economic avenues. As reported by political news agency, The Hill, on Wednesday the 28th, the Trump administration is exploring the possibility of large-scale deep-sea mining near Alaska, which would become the first deep-sea mining operation in the world.

Critics of the plan have warned that the seafloor is an incredibly fragile yet important environment for humans and nature alike, and destructive deep-sea mining could cause permanent damage to northern oceans that are already in decline.

The government argues that finding new sources of critical metals and minerals is required to reduce reliance on foreign mineral supplies, particularly from China.

In some new businesses, the American Energy industry in Alaska should make sure its existing infrastructure is safer. On Thursday the 29th, Alaska Public Media reported that at the northern Alaska ConocoPhillips oil drilling site, a massive piece of oil exploration infrastructure known as the Beast, tipped over and caught fire. Even though no one was seriously hurt, eight people were treated for minor injuries and were later released, according to the company.

The incident has caused the spillage of nearly 5,000 gallons of oil and diesel into the environment, with ConocoPhillips saying they have established protections to prevent leaking into nearby waterways.

Despite this, the company has said it will proceed with its plans to drill four additional oil exploration sites this winter.

Canada is also hoping to expand its northern mining operations. On Wednesday the 28th, the Canadian broadcaster, CBC, reported that Canada’s three northern territories have signed an agreement with the western provinces to create a new shared critical minerals strategy.

The agreement notes that Indigenous governments will be involved in all mineral projects, to ensure that Canada cooperates with its native communities, while aiming to become a global leader in the mining industry.

Mining is a growing business in the north, but the biggest industry in the Arctic is the military. On Tuesday the 27th, Norway‘s parliament approved a $2 billion US dollar plan to purchase long-range artillery to boost the country’s deterrence against Russia in the Arctic, where the two nations share a border.

Donald Trump has been calling for other Arctic nations to increase their defence spending in the north, and Norway is responding with billions of dollars. However, the selection of a South Korean supplier rather than an American may not be exactly what Trump had in mind.

Deeper into the Norwegian Arctic, a polar bear population is surprising scientists. As reported by the BBC on Thursday the 29th, the polar bears who live on the Svalbard archipelago have been getting a lot fatter recently.

This comes as a shock as Svalbard is the fastest-warming place on Earth, with ice declining rapidly. Polar bears typically use ice to hunt seals, so the assumption from scientists was that less ice would mean less food.

Researchers from the Norwegian Polar Institute have instead seen the bears switching prey choices, moving from seals to walruses, reindeer and even ducks. In the short term, this means extra food is on the menu. But the knock-on impacts across the ecosystem could mean that everything will struggle in the future.

The deep oceans of the north are getting louder than ever before. In research published by the University of Bath on Monday the 26th, a study measuring a decade of acoustic data from the Arctic Ocean has found that human-generated noise is increasing.

The study notes that existing laws regarding noise pollution aren’t applicable to the Arctic. The freezing cold waters cause sound to travel farther than typical ocean temperatures, and sea ice makes sound react differently depending on its thickness.

As noise laws have been largely designed for warm European oceans and applied to the rest of the world, the report calls for a new framework. One that takes into account the increasing industry in the Arctic, and can truly protect it.

To know more about this story, check out the Rorshok Ocean Update with the link in the show notes!

The big story from the Arctic in recent weeks, that of the US government threatening the annexation of Greenland, continues to quietly move forward. On Thursday the 29th, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, the Danish Foreign Minister, spoke at an EU trade meeting where he said that the governments of Denmark and the US had met to resolve the dispute over Greenland, and that further meetings are planned. However, he noted that no progress toward a resolution has yet been reached.

The untold story regarding the Greenland diplomatic situation is its impact on Greenlanders' mental health. To measure this, on Wednesday the 28th, the Danish Institute of Public Health announced that it will conduct a nationwide mental health survey administered to every resident over fifteen.

It will compare the results with similar studies conducted in recent years to see the impact the current situation is having on the population's mental health and well-being.

Iceland is studying its residents too. As tourism numbers explode in the country, and the native population remains low, Iceland is bringing in large numbers of foreign workers, but how does this impact the country?

According to a report by national broadcaster RUV, on Wednesday the 28th, the town of Mýrdalshreppur has a foreign resident proportion of sixty-seven percent, far above the national average of twenty percent. The municipal government says that although this has been challenging, it has brought far more benefits than problems to the remote southern town. There are more businesses and jobs opening, and living conditions are constantly improving.

Finally, Monday the 2nd of February marks a special day for fans of long winters and Bill Murray. It’s Groundhog Day! The humble groundhog is more than just a mythical weatherman, and on the 2nd, Steven Sullivan wrote an essay for the Alaska Beacon where he detailed just what makes this animal special all year round.

There are fifteen species of groundhog that live from Arctic America and Siberia, to as far south as New Mexico and Spain. They are the largest animal to fully hibernate, entering a state close to death for up to nine months a year, and scientific study of this phenomenon has led to medical breakthroughs in areas like obesity, liver disease and even organ transplantation.

Check out the essay with the link in the show notes to learn all about the amazing Groundhog on its special day.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

And that's it for this week. But wait, we have an important thing to tell you. We've decided to bring the Rorshok Arctic Update to an end. We've loved doing it and it has been going since twenty twenty-three. Originally, we'd sort of hoped that the listeners could connect and a small community might form, but one way or another, we didn't know how to do that, and it hasn't really happened. And putting them out every week is lots of work and not cheap....so we're just going to stop and focus on the other community building things Rorshok is doing. You can check out our projects on our website. Thank you for listening all these years. . We'd love to hear from you, so if you’ve got any questions or ideas, send us an email at info@rorshok.com.

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