Offshore staff
MOSCOW – Rosneft and Statoil have agreed to jointly explore offshore fields in the Russian sectors of the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk.
The agreement also could lead to Rosneft’s participation in exploration and development of Statoil’s interests in the Norwegian Barents Sea and North Sea, and in Statoil’s international projects.
The two companies plan to establish a joint venture to explore the Perseevsky license block in 120-240 m (393-787 ft) of water in the western Barents Sea; and the Magadan 1, Lisyansky, and Kashevarovsky blocks in the Sea of Okhotsk off eastern Russia, in respective water depths of 100-160 m (328-525 ft), up to 200 m (656 ft), and 140-350 m (459-1,148 ft).
Rosneft estimates total recoverable prospective resources at around 2 billion metric tons (2.2 billion tons) of oil and 1.8 tcm (63.6 tcf) of gas.
Statoil will finance geological exploration work in line with approved programs, and will reimburse historical expenses incurred by Rosneft, in addition to 33.3% of expenses incurred by Rosneft during the license acquisition process.
Later on, Statoil may pay Rosneft one-off bonuses for each commercial oil and gas discovery that may result.
The two companies intend to place orders with Russian shipyards for construction of ice-class vessels and drilling platforms.
According to a report in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, Rosneft has also approached TNK-BP concerning potential joint exploration in the Russian arctic offshore. The Russian company previously agreed similar partnerships withExxonMobil and Eni, following the introduction of improved exploration incentives announced by Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin.
5/7/2012
