Statoil Signs Cooperation Agreement with Rosneft

Statoil

and Rosneft today signed a cooperation agreement. The companies have agreed to jointly explore offshore frontier areas of Russia and Norway and to conduct joint technical studies on two onshore Russian assets. The agreement also envisages Rosneft's acquisition of participating interests in selected Statoil projects. Rosneft president Eduard Khudainatov and Statoil president and CEO Helge Lund signed the agreement, in the presence of the President-elect of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin. "This cooperation agreement is an important milestone in Statoil's exploration activity in Russia. The agreement secures a long term collaborative position with Rosneft in large, prospective frontier areas in the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk. By building on both companies' competence and experience, this agreement is a significant step further in the industrial development of the Northern areas, says Helge Lund, CEO of Statoil. Under the agreement, Statoil and Rosneft will set up joint ventures, with Statoil holding 33,33% in each. The partners will jointly explore the Perseevsky licence in in the Russian part of the Central Barents Sea and three licences - the Kashevarovsky, Lisyansky and Magadan-1 - north of Sakhalin island in the Sea of Okhotsk. The four offshore licences cover an area of more than 100,000 square kilometres, equalling approximately 200 blocks on the Norwegian continental shelf.