Task Force to Negotiate Maritime Boundary in Beaufort Sea

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States and Canada announced on Tuesday the formation of a task force this autumn to negotiate the maritime boundary in the Beaufort Sea and resolve the overlap along the continental shelf.

The group aims to achieve a final agreement covering the border area located north of Alaska and the Canadian provinces of Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

This initiative comes amid increasing cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic Sea, where both nations are pursuing mineral resources and new shipping routes made accessible by melting ice due to rising temperatures.

The dispute over the Beaufort Sea has its roots in a long-standing disagreement regarding the maritime border off the Yukon and Alaska coasts, an ecologically sensitive region rich in oil and gas deposits.

Historically, the boundary conflict traces back to the 1825 Anglo-Russian treaty, which the United States inherited in 1867 and Canada in 1880. Both countries have differing interpretations of the treaty's implications.

Last year, the U.S. government announced measures to designate nearly 3 million acres of the region as "indefinitely off limits" for oil and gas leasing. President Joe Biden's administration has aimed to reconcile efforts to decarbonize the U.S. economy while protecting pristine wilderness.

This latest action extends an Obama-era ban and effectively shuts down oil exploration in U.S. Arctic waters.