In These New Times

Just as we had Norway earmarked as a front line state in our new cold war against Russia in the “High N orth”, the Russians have smoothed their way in their with a commercial agreement. Is commerce and cooperation beginning to trump the Wests’ bankrupt security agenda on all fronts.

Pricey ice: Russia, Norway sign megabuck Arctic agreement

RT

5th May, 2012

A multi-billion-dollar agreement on Arctic shelf development has been signed by Russian oil company Rosneft and Norway’s Statoil.

The agreement covers a range of projects in the Barents Sea (namely, the Perseyevsky section) and in the Sea of Okhotsk (Magadan-1, Lisyansky and Kashevarovsky sections). These four sections on the Russian shelf have cumulative projected resources of roughly two billion tonnes of oil and 1.8 trillion cubic meters of gas.

“Investments in the two companies’ joint projects could subsequently reach unprecedented sums – of $65-100 billion,”said Rosneft’s head Eduard Khudainatov.

Statoil’s first investment into the developments is estimated at $2.5 billon – once there is success at the stage of geological reconnaissance survey. The Norwegians will finance geological exploration and reimburse Rosneft for past costs, as well as for 33.3 per cent of the license fees. Rosneft is also entitled to receive a one-time bonus from Statoil for each commercial discovery of oil and gas reserves.

The Norwegian company will have a one-third stake in the projects, while Rosneft will acquire a stake in Statoil exploration projects in the North Sea and in the Norwegian section of the Barents Sea.

The scientific potential of the agreement is to find effective approaches to developing hard-to-recover oil and gas deposits, such as the reserves in shale oil sediments in the Khadum suite in Stavropol, or super viscous oil under the gas cap in the Yamal-Nenets  Autonomous District.

If commercial reserves are detected, Rosneft and Statoil plan to jointly develop these deposits.

“We foresee a deep exchange of innovative technology between the two companies,” said Statoil’s CEO Helge Lund.“Some licenses will be active up to 2040, so we are looking forward long-term and strategic cooperation with Rosneft.”