Norway recjects Russian claim about oil cooperation agreement
The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources claims that Russia and Norway intend to cooperate on research and exploration of oil and gas fields in the Barents Sea. Norway rejects the claim.
The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources has published a press release claiming that Norway and Russia in the first half of 2010 will to sign a Letter of Intent on joint operations in the Barents Sea.
The two countries will according to the Russian ministry cooperate on geological surveys and development of hydrocarbon resources in the border areas on the Arctic, Norwegian and Russian shelves.
The press release was published after a meeting in Oslo last week between Deputy Minister of Natural Resources Sergey Donskoy and State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy Robin Martin Kåss.
State Secretary Kåss believes the claims about an intention agreement are quite far from reality:
- I think the meeting with the Deputy Minister was positive. We agreed to strengthen the dialog based on our intention agreement from 2002. But we did not talk about any joint activity, Mr. Kåss said to Teknisk Ukeblad.
