ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow Region/, August 27. /TASS/. Russia’s Energy Ministry considers it reasonable to attract foreign investors to exploration of the Russian Arctic shelf for unallocated licenses, Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Tuesday.
"We believe that it may be considered within the unallocated subsoil reserve fund," he said, adding that today the law does not prohibit attracting foreign companies to Arctic projects, though "additional instruments, mechanisms" could be developed for making them more attractive.
Novak added that the necessity to speed up geological exploration in the Arctic was discussed at the meeting headed by Deputy PM Dmitry Kozak and Deputy PM, Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev on August 26. "Current recoverable resources (on the Arctic shelf) are insufficient so far, which is why geological exploration is required among other things," he explained.