Reuters: No Kara Sea drilling for Rosneft this year

Russian oil giant Rosneft will not be resuming its Kara Sea operations, offshore Russia’s north this year, Reuters has reported.

The company in partnership with ExxonMobil in September last year made an oil discovery at the Universitetskaya-1 well, dubbed the world’s northernmost well in the world. Not long after, Exxon had to pull out of the project due to the U.S. Treasury sanctions preventing the U.S. companies from cooperating with Russian peers in Arctic exploration.

The Universitetskaya well was drilled using the West Alpha semi-submersible drilling rig, which left Russia for Norway, following the completion of the Kara Sea campaign.

According to Reuters, which cited unnamed sources, Rosneft will resume drilling in the area in 2016, upon chartering a suitable drilling rig.

In late 2014, Rosneft gave a hint that there would be no Kara Sea operation in 2015, after cancelling contracts for several offshore support vessels which had been hired to support offshore operations in the area.

Offshore Energy Today Staff

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