Shell becomes Gazprom’s partner at the shelf

Gazprom selected a strategical partner to struggle for Russian shelf against Rosneft actively developing an alliance with American ExxonMobil. Yesterday Gazprom signed a memorandum with Shell. The foreign investor obtains one third in the project and Gazprom obtains access to Shell’s foreign deposits.

On Monday the Head of Gazprom Aleksey Miller and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Royal Dutch Shell Jorma Ollila signed a memorandum about joint development of Russian arctic shelf and foreign deep-water shelf, Gazprom reported. As told by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the companies are going to develop north Vrangel sector in the Chukchee Sea and North-West sector in the Pechora Sea. Gazprom hasn’t obtained the licenses for these sectors yet, it is expected that Russian Agency on Subsoil Use (Rosnedra) will provide them by May 1.