Norwegian energy firm Statoil may participate in new hydrocarbon development projects in Russian Arctic shelf, President-elect Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
“I think we can come to agreement about joint work in [the country’s] north … I hope projects and decisions that will allow us to move forward will be found at corporate and state levels,” Putin told Statoil President CEO Helge Lund during a meeting.
“Decisions made at the political level must be correspondingly implemented at the commercial level,” Putin said.
Russia and Norway signed a deal in September 2010 to delineate their maritime border after 40 years of negotiations. The agreement came into force in July 2011, opening new opportunities for the oil and gas industry in the northern regions.
Last December the Russian government granted exploration rights in several areas of the Barents Sea shelf to local oil giant Rosneft.
The two countries have been disputing the 175,000 square km area in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean since 1970. The absence of a defined maritime border often resulted in the seizure of fishing vessels in the region.