The UK is planning to claim sovereign rights over a vast area of the remote seabed off Antarctica, news reports said.

The submission to the UN covers more than 1m sq km of seabed, and is likely to signal a quickening of the race for territory around the south pole in the world’s least explored continent.  The claim would be in defiance of the spirit of the 1959 Antarctic treaty, to which the UK is a signatory. It specifically states that no new claims shall be asserted on the continent. The Foreign Office, however, has said that data is being gathered and processed for a submission to the UN which could extend British oil, gas and mineral exploitation rights up to 350 miles offshore into the Southern Ocean.

Much of the seabed there is at such a depth that extraction of gas, oil or minerals is not yet technically feasible, but the claim may still anger neighbouring South American countries who believe they have more entitlement to the potentially valuable territory.

The submission reflects the UK’s efforts to secure resources for the future as oil and gas reserves dwindle over coming decades.