On December 18, Member of Rosneft Board of Directors, special representative of President of the Russian Federation on international cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic Artur Chilingarov made a report "Russia and Norway: Prospects for Cooperation in the Arctic" at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute.
"Russia and Norway provide an example of how disputed issues may be constructively resolved on the sole basis of national and international laws," said Chilingarov, "the Russian-Norwegian agreement on maritime delimitation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean has demonstrated both parties' goodwill."
"Arctic development will help to melt the ice of distrust between Russia and the West," Chilingarov asserted. He cited Rosneft's joint projects as examples of successful Russian-Norwegian cooperation on the Arctic shelf.
He emphasized, that the recent Pobeda (Victory) oil field discovery in the Kara Sea became a common victory, primarily, for the Russian and Norwegian specialists. The Universitetskaya well drilling results surpassed the boldest expectations. The resource base discovered only in the first trap is 499 bcm of natural gas and over 130 million tons of oil. The oil has very high quality and is comparable to Siberian Light. For reference: in 2013, Norway's aggregate production amounted to 109 bcm of gas and 83 million tons of oil.
The only well drilled on the Universitetskaya structure demanded implementation of a powerful shipping support system including rescue and transportation vessels, ice breakers, floating hotels all worked in the Kara Sea. Chilingarov believes, Norwegians could get actively involved in setting up the infrastructure in the years to come, as the number of exploration wells grows and, thereafter, commercial production of Arctic oil begins.
"Considering that Rosneft and partners plan to spend US$400 billion on hydrocarbons production in the Kara Sea (which will cover just 25% of proven reserves in the Arctic), Norway's lost profits could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars if politicians keep making uneconomical decisions," Chilingarov noted.
The special representative of the Russian President is sure that there is no problem in the Arctic that could not be resolved on the basis of good relations and constructive dialog.
The Director of the Nansen Institute, Arild Moe, and Director of Norwegian Polar Institute, Jan-Gunnar Winther, took part in the debates that followed Chilingarov's speech. Chilingarov also held informal meetings with representatives of the Oil and Energy Ministry, Climate and Environment Ministry, and Foreign Affairs Ministry of Norway, discussing with them the issues of Norwegian-Russian cooperation in the Arctic.
