Exxon wins BP's lost Russian Arctic fields

[xchrom]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/MI01Ag01.html

MONTREAL - ExxonMobil, the United States oil major and the world's biggest company, and Russia's Rosneft have signed an agreement to develop the three offshore areas in Russia's Arctic shelf.

In January, Rosneft had agreed with BP to develop the three areas involved, a deal that eventually and acrimoniously collapsed under the weight of an earlier partnership between the British company and another leading Russian outfit.

The Exxon agreement covers the Vostochno-Prinovozemelskoe field, between the Novaya Zemlya archipelago (where the USSR once carried out atomic testing) and the Yamal Peninsula (site of still other energy exploration), in the South Kara Sea.

The latest Rosneft deal also foresees continuing cooperation in an offshore Black Sea region called the Tuapse Trough. Exxon agreed this year to finance exploration there to the tune of about


US$1 billion. The joint-venture company to operate the project will be two-thirds owned by Rosneft.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, announcing the deal, floated the figure of US$500 billion as the possible level of eventual investment. Exxon sources indicated that this would be closer to $3.2 billion for the Kara and Black Sea combined in the near term. Exxon will own only one-third of the joint venture developing the blocks. Rosneft, itself three-quarters owned by the Kremlin, will own the other two-thirds.

[Arctic Dave]

1. Is this the begining of the end for BP?

Rosnet is majority owned by the Russian government, I see they have no problem doing business with "socialist" run corporations. LOL Funny how we can't do it here like they do it in the rest of the world.