Russia planning to resubmit its claim to CLCS in 2013

In December 2001, Russia submitted an extended continental shelf claim that included 1.2 million square kilometers of Arctic territory, including the North Pole (which is nearly half of the Arctic Ocean), to the U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS).60 Because the CLCS requested that Russia revise its submission, Russia is currently in the process of documenting its claim.61 Notably, it has been reported that Russia is postponing submitting its claim to the CLCS until 2013 in order to wait until Canada and Denmark submit claims of their own.62 Ultimately, if the CLCS concludes that Russia's claim is legitimate,63 Russia could win the sole right to exploit resources beneath a significant part of the Arctic seabed, an area that holds an "estimated 10 billion metric tons of hydrocarbons."