OREANDA-NEWS. At the Gazprom Headquarters, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee met with Odd Roger Enoksen, Petroleum and Energy Minister of the Kingdom of Norway.

Within the intergovernmental accords achieved earlier as well as the provisions of the Memorandum of understanding signed between Gazprom, Statoil and Hydro, the participants discussed the prospects of cooperation between Russia and Norway to develop the Arctic Shelf and the issues relevant to coordinating further activities in this direction.

Particularly, the meeting examined opportunities to provide joint extraction of potential hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic Region as well as developing technologies for the Arctic Shelf exploration including the Shtokman gas field.

On June 20, 2005, in Moscow Gazprom, Statoil and Hydro signed a Memorandum of understanding. In addition to the joint Arctic Region development the Memorandum stipulates evaluating the influence of oil and gas production on socio and economic development of the near regions and environment; personnel exchange, staff training as well as preparation for probation programs.