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Declining oil reserves and soaring prices could see desperate nations overturning a ban on exploration in the last untouched frontier -- Antarctica, an oil expert told a scientific conference.

A three-man sledge on Antarctic ice
© AFP/HO/File

Pressure to drill in the pristine, icy continent could become irresistible, Ali Bakhtiari, a former senior adviser for the National Iranian Oil Company, said at a meeting of international Antarctic specialists in Hobart, Tansmania.

"I hope it will not happen because that would create enormous difficulties, but when you have the enormous price increase that I can foresee governments and companies will want to find oil anywhere," he said.

"There is now only one frontier province left and that is Antarctica," he was quoted as saying by Australia's national news agency AAP.

More than 850 delegates are in Hobart this week for the combined meetings of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP).

Bakhtiari predicted the world's oil production rate would peak this year at 81 billion barrels per day and decline to roughly 55 million barrels per day by 2020, pitching oil prices to "stratospheric levels".

"In the next 14 years, if my predictions are correct, one third of today's oil supply will be gone," Bakhtiari said. "Wait until you see these pressures that are coming up. They will come up one day."

Seven countries have made territorial claims in Antarctica, but not all countries recognize these claims.

The 1961 Antarctic Treaty establishes the legal framework for the management of Antarctica and has 28 decision-making members, including the seven that claim portions of the continent.

These are Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway, and Britain. The United States and Russia have reserved the right to make claims, and the US does not recognize the claims of others.

Antarctica is protected from mineral exploration under the Madrid Protocol, which bans mining, but the prohibition can be changed at any time if all 28 signatory countries agree.

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