Oil exploration in the Kara Sea in the Arctic is unlikely to restart before 2020, according to reports.
The news comes following a Russian Energy Ministry presentation this week.
Last year Rosneft was forced to suspend drilling in the region after its partner ExxonMobil withdrew from the project because of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
Earlier this year initial reports said the company would be forced to postpone drilling a second well in the Kara Sea for at least two more years, three sources told Reuters, as a result of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis.
Rosneft, the world’s top listed oil firm by output, drilled a first exploration well known as Universitetskaya-1 last year in the Kara Sea, which is part of the Arctic Ocean, with the help of US partner ExxonMobil which provided the rig.
The company said last September the first well drilled with Exxon had discovered light oil – liquid petroleum with a low density – and that the field could hold 130 million tonnes of technically recoverable oil reserves.
Exploration in the Kara Sea is difficult at the best of times because of the severe weather conditions which make drilling possible for only about two months a year, but it is much more complicated without specialised Western equipment.
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