MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Federal Agency for Subsoil Use, Rosnedra, has suggested that energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom cooperate on the development of technologies for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic Shelf, the agency's deputy head Orest Kasparov said Thursday.
"Where the Arctic is concerned, we will probably grant the last licenses on the Arctic Shelf [exploration] to Rosneft and Gazprom; and we think that these two companies could combine efforts to create a consortium on the development of technologies on the Arctic subsoil exploration," the official said at the National Oil and Gas Forum in Moscow.
The United States and the European Union have imposed several waves of economic sanctions on Moscow over its alleged meddling in the Ukrainian conflict. The two most recent waves of sanctions particularly targeted the country's energy sector, prohibiting the export of goods, services and technologies for deepwater, Arctic and shale oil exploration to Russia.
Earlier in the week, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said the country will be able to completely replace Western technologies for oil and gas production with home-made or other foreign analogues by 2020.
