Gazprom, Shell Team Up in E&D of Russia’s Arctic Offshore Reserves

Alexey Miller, Chairman of Gazprom Management Board, and Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Royal Dutch Shell plc , in the presence of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte on Monday signed a Memorandum that sets out the principles of co-operation in offshore projects in the Russian Arctic and in a deep-water offshore project outside of Russia.

“Gazprom and Shell already are partners in developing Russian offshore. The new agreement will allow us to study what the potential of what we can do together “, said Alexey Miller.

Also, Alexander Dyukov, Chairman of Gazprom Neft Management Board and Andy Brown, Upstream International Director of Royal Dutch Shell plc, signed a memorandum confirming the General Agreement on Partnership in exploration and development of liquids-rich shales.

In accordance with this agreement, the parties will establish a joint-venture company for the exploration and development of liquids-rich shales (LRS) in Khanty Mansiysk District (Western Siberia). The new joint-venture company, in which each partner will have 50% equity, will have its registered office in St. Petersburg. Shell and Gazprom Neft expect that Salym Petroleum Development N.V. , their 50-50 existing joint venture, at the initial stage will act as a provider of oil field services for new projects.

The new joint venture will allow the partners to establish a centre of LRS competence development in Russia and will enhance technological level of the Russian oil industry “Today’s agreements take the existing partnership between Shell and Gazprom to a new level. Our two companies have worked together successfully for many years in the Sakhalin 2 joint venture and the Salym field, and we now look forward to building on that success by applying our leading technology and innovation to new, frontier areas including liquids-rich shale and Arctic exploration“, said Peter Voser, Chief Executive Officer of Royal Dutch Shell plc.