MOSCOW: Russia’s Minister of Natural Resources Sergey Donskoy and Norway’s Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tord Lien are going to meet in Oslo to discuss cooperation between the two countries in the sphere of oil and gas exploration, and development of cross-border hydrocarbon fields.
One of the main topics of the meeting will be the upcoming intergovernmental agreement of seismic data acquisition procedure along the demarcation line on the continental shelf in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. The agreement should allow the seismic vessels of the two countries to cross the Russian-Norwegian maritime border in the process of collecting data on the deposits of oil and gas. “Work of Russia and Norway in the Barents Sea in the so-called former disputed area is of a mutual strategic interest. Therefore there is a need to develop an adequate legal framework,” Donskoy said.
Legal issues related to subsoil cooperation in development of cross-border deposits will also be discussed during the upcoming talks. In addition, the Ministers will discuss the prospects for oil and gas industry in the Arctic and the issue of the prevention of oil spills in the high latitudes. Donskoy has already met with Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen to discuss the countries’ cooperation in the field of environmental protection.
“The meeting was constructive, we have not discussed these topics with the Norwegian colleagues for quite some time,” Donskoy told TASS. “First, we talked about the changes in the Russian legislation and governmental regulation that have occurred recently in the field of waste management, and production modernization and introduction of best available technologies. We talked about preparation of the Russian plan on governing the Arctic, discussed topics related to the results of the work on reducing carbon emissions in the Arctic region that we have already achieved, boreal forest climate and regional cooperation,” he added.
According to Donskoy, there are many fields in the environmental sphere that require attention from both neighboring countries. “Russia and Norway have a long history of cooperation on environmental issues. We have a common border in the north and a common interest in regard to the marine environment,” Helgesen said. “We touched upon a wide range of issues – from climate change in the Arctic to the cross-border cooperation the fight against pollution, as well as joint management of marine resources,” he added.
During his visit to Norway Doskoy will also meet with Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Tord Lien to discuss cooperation in oil and gas exploration and development of cross-border hydrocarbon fields. Doskoy will talk about the prospects for resumption of meetings of the Intergovernmental Russian-Norwegian commission on economic, industrial and scientific-technical cooperation with the Norwegian Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Maeland.
