NOVO-OGAREVO, February 13 (Itar-Tass) – Head of Russia’s oil giant Rosneft Igor Sechin hopes for signing of an agreement on development of new blocks at the Arctic shelf on Wednesday.
“We received licenses [for the development of the blocks] today, therefore the relevant agreement should be inked,” Sechin said, giving no exact information about possible parties of the agreement. “We would be glad to invite everyone [interested in the project],” he said.
Rosneft has already inked agreements with the world’s biggest companies in the sphere of the Arctic shelf development, including Exxon Mobil, Statoil and ENI.
Earlier, the government signed the decree to grant licenses for the development of 12 shelf fields to the Rosneft oil giant.
The fields are located in the Laptev Sea, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea and the Chukchi Sea.
The document was drafted in compliance with the Law on Natural Resources and with due account Rosneft’s colossal experience in the development of the Russian shelf zones, the government’s press service said.
Under the document, Rosneft received the Severo-Primorsky-1, Yuzhno-Prinovozemelsky, Zapadno-Prinovozemelsky, Zapadno-Matveyevsky, and Russky fields in the Barents Sea, the Severo-Karsky field in the Kara Sea, the Yuzhno-Chukotsky, Severo-Vrangelevsky-1, and Severo-Vrangelevsky-2 fields in the Chukchi Sea, and the Ust-Lensky, Ust-Oleneksky, and Anisinsko-Novosibirsky fields in the Laptev Sea, the press service said.
The decision is aimed at the drawing of investments in the geological exploration projects of the fields located on the continental shelf of Russia, the press service said.
The cost of the shelf blocks exceeds five billion roubles (USD 1 = RUB 30.07).
The above-mentioned document is expected to be signed after the meeting of the presidential commission on fuel and energy sector.