OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2010. Norwegian-based Statoil is likely to be the closest partner of vRussian companies in field development in the Barents Sea, Russian minister for natural resources Yuri Trutnev told journalists.

We noted that the Barents Sea contained 25% of the total world offshore hydrocarbon reserves. “In the meantime, it is not only investments that are important in offshore development, but also equipment, management experience and of course security, as the accident in the Gulf of Mexico showed”, Trutnev said and added that it was essential to cooperate with all of world leading companies in this area. “This does not mean that we should leave majority interests to government companies.

We should instead engage a broader range of companies”, he said and underlined that Statoil was Russia’s partner by convention. “We have agreed that any trans-border structure must be regarded as an organic whole, and for this reason, we must tap oilfields as a unified structure, and Statoil is our partner by convention. As to other companies, it is all a matter of talks”, Trutnev said.