The decades-delayed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has received a much-needed shot in the arm after an independent panel gave its support for the $16.2-billion mega-project. But many barriers still stand in the way of development, and experts said this is just one step on a very long path to development that is still fraught with uncertainty.

The proposed 1,200-kilometre pipeline would run through the Mackenzie Valley from Inuvik, N.W.T., down to the Alberta border, where it would connect with southern markets. (CBC)A proposed $16.2-billion natural gas pipeline through the Northwest Territories moved closer to reality Wednesday after winning approval from a regulatory panel.

Norway’s foreign political and security political foundation both during the Cold War and now creates predictability on both sides of the Russian-Norwegian border, says Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat Rune Rafaelsen.

With the UN’s 2013 Arctic deadline fast approaching, there has been much talk in the past year or so of upcoming battles between countries for full control and ownership of the Arctic. The main players – Canada, The United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway – all have a stake in the Arctic, each wanting to maximize its own potential for taking advantage of the natural resources and shipping routes that will be made available due to the ever melting Arctic ice. There have already been some small skirmishes between Canada, Russia and the US, with each country posturing to solidify their Arctic sovereignty.

A new semi-submersible drilling rig intended for the Barents- Kara- and Pechora Seas was Monday laid down at the Zvezda shipyard in Russia’s Far East.

Start-up of the Shtokman development will be postponed says Russia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Head of Gazprom’s Board of Directors Viktor Zubkov.

Norilsk-Nickel has opened a logistics office in Rotterdam to serve the company’s cargo transport between Europe and the Arctic port of Dudinka.

The village of Revda in Murmansk Oblast will probably be closed and its inhabitants moved. The reason for this is the collapse of the mining industry in the area.

Germany has given permission to build a 50-kilometer stretch of the 1,223-kilometre pipeline in its territorial waters.