ExxonMobil and Rosneft Sign Agreement for Black Sea/Arctic Ocean
ExxonMobil and Rosneft have entered a Strategic Cooperation Agreement, through which they will set up an exploration programme for oil and gas projects in the Kara and Black Seas.
The exploration efforts, which are expected to cost an estimated $3.2 billion (USD), have already begun on the Black Sea with work beginning on the Tuapse Licence in 2011. A seismic programme is already underway on the licence and is about 70 per cent completed. The first exploration well is expected to be drilled in 2014 or 2014.
Currently, Rosneft and ExxonMobil are gearing up to begin work on fields in the Kara Sea, a sea in the Arctic Ocean. Environmental and seismic programmes are due to start on the East Prinovozemelsky block in the Kara Sea later this year, with an exploration well possibly to be drilled in 2014.
Rosneft and ExxonMobil signed the long-term deal yesterday in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
The deal was signed by Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov, chairman and chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil Corporation Rex W. Tillerson, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Company Stephen M. Greenlee and president of ExxonMobil Development Company Neil W. Duffin.
"Today Rosneft and ExxonMobil enter offshore projects of unprecedented scale in the Russian Arctic and Black Sea regions, which are home to the world’s largest hydrocarbon resources base," Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov said after the signing yesterday.
"In so doing we lay the foundation for long-term growth of the Russian oil and gas industry. I am certain that 15 years of Rosneft and ExxonMobil partnership, as well as the use of the latest environmentally safe technologies and unique experience will allow Rosneft to become one of the global leaders in the oil and gas industry."
As part of the deal, Rosneft and ExxonMobil will also cooperate on a number of Non-European projects, including Rosneft taking a 30 per cent share in 20 blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, USA, and a 30 per cent stake in the Western Canada Basin in Alberta, Canada.