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Russian companies continue working in Arctic offshore zone — energy minister

Under the Russian law, only state-owned companies - Rosneft and Gazprom have access to the Arctic offshore fields

MOSCOW, April 20. / TASS /. The work of Russian companies in the Arctic offshore zone continues, Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters.

"Our companies continue to work offshore, they continue drilling, continue explorations. Of course, not at the same rate that was when oil prices were high, however, we keep on moving ahead," he said.

Under the Russian law, only state-owned companies - Rosneft and Gazprom have access to the Arctic offshore fields. The Russian government is authorized to take decisions on granting licenses to develop the fields without contests and auctions.

Earlier, Russia’s Energy Ministry said that it expects the increase in production in the Arctic offshore zone to 31-35 mln tonnes by 2035.

Currently, "the production volume in the area taking into account the increase in production at the Prirazlomnoye field last year and the volume of production in the offshore zone of the Sakhalin island is about 19 mln tonnes."