May 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Arctic region may hold enough natural gas to meet current global demand for 14 years and most of it belongs to Russia, which could “accentuate” the country’s dominant role in the industry, U.S. geologists said.

The Arctic probably holds 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas and about 13 percent of the oil, a group led by Donald Gautier of the U.S. Geological Survey said in a paper published in the latest edition of Science magazine. The study was billed as the first detailed estimate of the region’s natural-resource wealth.

“These findings suggest that the future preeminence of Russian strategic control of gas resources is likely to be accentuated and extended,” Gautier said from in Menlo Park, California, in an audio file posted on Science’s Web site.

Moscow-based OAO Gazprom, supplier of a quarter of Europe’s gas, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are among the energy companies seeking deposits above the Arctic Circle as melting ice retreats and access to deposits in more hospitable climates becomes more constrained.

Russia dispatched a mini-submarine to plant a titanium flag on the seabed under the polar cap in 2007, challenging a United Nations convention that limits resource claims to within 200 miles (321 kilometers) from shore and sparking protests from Canada, the U.S., Norway and Denmark, which all have territory above the Arctic Circle.

Oil, Greenland

The median estimate of gas deposits detailed by the U.S. scientists could add 1,547 trillion cubic feet (44 trillion cubic meters) to the world’s proved reserves, compared with annual consumption of about 110 trillion cubic feet. There’s a 5 percent chance that the Arctic holds 2,990 trillion cubic feet, according to the study.

The region may hold 83 billion barrels of crude oil, sufficient to meet global demand for almost three years, the geologists said. That’s probably not enough, though to shift the pattern of oil production, according to the study.

Finding and developing offshore oil deposits would yield economic gains for Arctic nations and “could mean the difference between whether Greenland becomes independent from Denmark or not,” Gautier said in the study.

Greenland voted “yes” in a referendum last November that established almost full control of its natural resources, increasing the island’s independence from former colonial ruler Denmark.

Gautier said that estimates of Arctic resources will change as new data become available.

To contact the reporter on this story: Torrey Clark in Moscow at tclark8@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 29, 2009 06:42 EDT