Oil companies are planning to create huge underwater rigs on the sea bed of the Arctic ocean, possibly serviced by a fleet of manned submarines.

The creation of giant underwater oil and gas plants with all the machinery used to extract fossil fuels beneath the waves would protect them from the extreme weather, including ice and storms, that affect the Arctic.

While oil companies already site some of their machinery underwater, the aim is to move all of it to the sea bed, including processing plants that strip contaminants from oil and gas before compressing it to send ashore.

However, one drawback is that servicing would still have to be carried out by surface vessels, which would be at risk from storms and ice. At