PARIS, September 30. /ITAR-TASS/. Washington’s sanctions against Arctic oil projects have dealt “a major blow” to the US corporation ExxonMobil, the French business newspaper Les Echos writes on Tuesday.

Rosneft discovered in the Arctic region last week a field that in the future will allow Russia and the United States to maintain further oil production, the newspaper writes in an article that refers to the Arctic key role for Russia’s major oil company Rosneft and America’s ExxonMobil. The Kara Sea deposits may contain up to 100 billion barrels of oil, the article says.

Washington’s instruction to halt participation in Russia’s Arctic projects deals a major blow to ExxonMobil, which, like many other oil and gas corporations of the world, is vitally interested in maintaining its high production level, Les Echos writes.

The American giant, facing the major challenge of renewing its production, placed a major stake on Russia for its future resources, whether in the Arctic, Black Sea, or the Bazhenov oil shale. It is to this end that ExxonMobil concluded a cooperation agreement with Rosneft in 2011, providing for joint exploration programs, the newspaper writes.

In recent years, ExxonMobil has been struggling to maintain its oil production, which reached 4.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in early 2006, and dropped to 3.84 million barrels of oil equivalent in the second quarter of 2014, its lowest level since mid-2009, Les Echos writes.