MOSCOW, September 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Exxon and Rosneft oil companies have stopped oil development on the Arctic shelf, Bloomberg reported. Representatives of the Rosneft company have made no comment on Bloomberg's report.
According to Bloomberg, oil development was stopped in connection with the sanctions that the EU has imposed on Rosneft and other Russian companies, which affected equipment supply to the Arctic shelf, its maintenance and servicing.
Early in August, the Exxon Mobil and Rosneft began joint development of Russia's northernmost oil well — Universitetskaya from an oil development platform West Alpha delivered by the Norwegian company North Atlantic Drilling.
On July 30, 2014 Rosneft signed a long-term agreement on oil development in the Arctic shelf with the Norwegian North Atlantic Drilling. The West Alpha platform was brought to the assigned area in the Arctic zone across the Barents, Pechora and Kara seas and was stationed in a licensed oil drilling spot — Vostochno-Prinovozemelsky, in the Kara Sea.