Rosneft, Statoil to develop oilfield

Rosneft and Statoil have signed an agreement to jointly develop the onshore North Komsomolskoye oilfield in northwestern Siberia, the Russian giant announced on Thursday.

In separate comments to Reuters, Statoil, which will acquire a 33.33% stake in the joint venture, claimed that the deal was fully compliant with EU sanctions imposed on Rosneft following Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

“The document signed opens an important stage in the long-term co-operation of Rosneft and Statoil,” said Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin. “Successful completion of [a] pilot project confirms the efficiency of co-operation with the industry’s majors in implementation of technologically complex projects.”

Recent exploration over the past two years has more than doubled the field’s estimated reserves to about 813 million boe, the statement added.

In other news from Rosneft, the world’s largest listed oil company by output said on Thursday that it had agreed to assist Mongolia with building jet fuel supply facilities at its new airport and to fund regional social projects in Russia’s northeast.

Also on Thursday, Statoil announced it had acquired a 90% operating interest in the 12/3/257 licence offshore South Africa from OK Energy, as well as a 35% non-operating stake in nearby licence 12/3/252 from ExxonMobil.