Russia's state run Rosneft oil company has selected a new partner for the development of the Russian shelf. It is Norway's Statoil. On Saturday, Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov and Statoil president and CEO Helge Lund signed a cooperation agreement in the presence of the President-elect of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

Statoil will get 33 percent in a venture with Rosneft to jointly develop hydrocarbons in the Russian Arctic blocks of the Barents and Okhotsk seas and bear all expenses related to exploration in the first stage.

Rosneft, on its part, will join Statoil's projects on the Norwegian shelf. Apart from this they are discussing the possibility of establishing cooperation in the Black Sea.

Vladimir Putin who was at the ceremony of signing the agreement said that cooperation between the two companies would give an impetus to economic relations between the two countries.

"It's especially pleasing that the Norwegian company is not only establishing multilateral partnership linked to joint work on our territory as well as on your territory with Rosneft, one of the leading Russian companies, but also sharing assets of each other.

This large-scale work will reflect in various joint sectors such as shipbuilding and infrastructure development. We highly value relations with our neighbour, and I believe this project will develop successfully and enjoy the unconditional support of the government," Vladimir Putin said.

Statoil president Helge Lund expressed gratitude to Vladimir Putin for making time for this meeting, and admitted that his company had considered cooperation with Russia as strategic in the past few years. According to him, this is quite natural that the countries in the north were engaged in the development of hydrocarbon deposits which are at difficult-to-reach locations.

Experts also positively assess this partnership. At present, Statoil is one of the leading companies in the world that possess advance technology, including technology to develop underwater deposits.

This partnership is clearly advantageous to Rosneft. The agreement will be promising for both partners because it allows them to share each other's assets. According to Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov, cooperation with Statoil witnesses the international recognition of the Russian company.

"I would like to proudly say that this is not only a result of joint cooperation but also a sign of trust in Rosneft. This is confirmed by the fact that our company has been granted an opportunity to make geological explorations on the Norwegian shelf. In short, we will integrate into a one company and a team of professionals. Hopefully, this will be a successful project that will provide dividends to both Norwegian and Russian shareholders," Eduard Khudainatov said.

In fact, Statoil is not the only foreign company with which Rosneft cooperates. Rosneft has already signed similar agreements with American ExxonMobil and Italian ENI.

In exchange for the possibility of developing the Russian shelf, the foreign partners allow Rosneft to be involved in their foreign projects. At the same time, the Russian government has approved a scheme of tax preferences for the projects on the shelf.

Source: Voice of Russia