There are a couple of questions that you've raised, and they're parallel to each other. The Beaufort Sea issue is one that we have under constant discussion with our American friends. The reason we aren't further ahead right now is that they've asked us to hold off until they've done some more seabed mapping. We've also done seabed mapping, and that's to help us understand how we would eventually look at that piece of property. In the meantime, both of us have continued to issue gas or hydrocarbon licences, but we have a moratorium on exploration until such time as the dispute is resolved. It's being handled quite carefully, and both of us have an interest in resolving it amicably.
The issue with the Northwest Passage is one that I think has confounded people, mainly because of misinterpretation by the press and others. I defy you to find the Northwest Passage on the map. There is no language that says “Northwest Passage”. It's just a combination of channels within the Arctic Archipelago that together create this concept of east or west. Our view is that, under international law, an international strait must have been used as an international strait for navigation. We've had that area icebound for 10,000 years. It has not been used as a common way of getting from one end to the other. Our view is that you can't just simply change it into an international strait as the ice melts.
Having said that, both Canada and the U.S. have agreed to disagree. In 1988, we entered into an agreement whereby we agreed that we would put this issue on ice, and the U.S. essentially asks us for authority to pass through the passage. We grant authority to the U.S. and to other vessels to go through the passage. Granting of authority to go through our waters is indication that we own those waters.