Regional authorities in Murmansk might be about to reconsider plans for a major development of alternative energy in the Kola Peninsula.

Two German merchant ships have sailed their way through the previously impassable Northeast Passage. The ships, Beluga Fraternity and Beluga Foresight, sailed from Asia bound for the Netherlands, traveling through northern Siberia. The shipping industry is looking at this trip as mapping out a possible new trade route, while environmentalists say that it is yet another sign of global warming.

The companies have applied for 227 offshore oil exploration licenses on the Norwegian shelf.

Due to the continued delays in the construction of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, MGM Energy Corp., based out of Calgary, is cancelling its Arctic drilling that was scheduled for this winter. The Calgary based group will have to pay a $10 million dollar penalty because of its decision not to drill.

The fallout of cobber, nickel and arsenic on the Norwegian side of the border near Russia’s Nikel factory were four to seven times higher in the summer periods 2004 to 2008 than in the 15 years before.

The Belgian branch of the PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world's largest professional services firms, is interested in participation in the Shtokman project.

Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, the “Yury Dolgoruky”, is currently undergoing new rounds of testing in Russian Arctic waters.

Aleksandr Medvedev, Gazprom’s Deputy Chief said Monday that they may push back the development of the giant Shtokman gas field in the Barents Sea beyond 2014 if gas demand in Europe does not recover fast enough.

At the end of October Arkhangelsk County will host the business conference “Arkhangelsk Maritime Partenariate”. It will gather private companies from Russia and Northern-Europe for business meetings within the maritime industry.

A university of Alberta biologist says that if Canada truly wants to understand the North and predict changes north of 60, more research needs to be conducted in the Arctic year round, not just during the very short Arctic summer.