norway and russia on oil and gas

RUSSIA AND NORWAY AGREE TO JOINT DEVELOPMENT OF ARCTIC AND FAR EAST OIL AND GAS

The Russian state-run oil major Rosneft signed a multibillion dollar joint venture deal with Norway's Statoil energy firm today to jointly develop four offshore hydrocarbon deposits in Russia's Arctic and the Far East. 


Itar Tass reports that the overall forecast investment by Rosneft and Statoil in the development of the fields on the Barents and Okhotsk shelves could reach from $65-100 billion, Rosneft boss Eduard Khudainatov said. The Norwegian oil giant will finance all geological prospecting of the Perseyevsky deposit in the Barents Sea in Russia's north and three fields in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East.

The sites hold overall recoverable reserves estimated at over two billion tons of oil and 1.8 trillion cubic meters of gas. Rosneft will have the right to participate in Statoil's development and production projects in the North Sea and in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea as part of the deal, the company said.

Statoil will get a 33.4% share in the joint venture.

The deal is the third major link-up for Rosneft with foreign companies to exploit the Russian continental shelf, following agreements with U.S. ExxonMobil and Italy's ENI in April.