In opening remarks, Sergei Lavrov told David O'Reilly, "We believe this meeting is a good opportunity to synchronize watches while preparing for the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, particularly for such an important problem as energy security."
Lavrov said Russia, which holds the G8 presidency this year and has made cooperation in the energy sector a priority on the agenda, was to prepare a package of agreements for July that would lay out global energy security principles for the long term, reflecting the interests of both energy producers and consumers, and global development at large.
Lavrov hailed the American company's production expertise across the world and in Russia.
ChevronTexaco has several major projects in Russia. It is the largest private shareholder in the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), a 935-mile pipeline that links oil fields in western Kazakhstan with the Russian Black Sea coast.
It is also short-listed for the project to develop the giant Shtokman deposit in the Russian part of the Barents Sea with Russian energy concern Gazprom. The deposit holds an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 31 million metric tons of gas condensate.
Gazprom is expected to unveil its choice of a partner before April 15.
Meeting with Lavrov, O'Reilly echoed the minister, saying a balanced energy system was needed to meet the interests of major producers and consumers.
