Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Kjell-Børge Freiberg and Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dmitry Kobylkin signed an agreement on mutual rights to seismic acquisition in the Barents Sea.
“ The agreement is a natural follow-up of the signing of the Delimitation Agreement in September 2010 and will benefit both countries. It entails a better possibility for both countries to map the resource potential up to, and along the delimitation line,” s aid Kjell-Børge Freiberg .
Both countries are in the process of mapping the resources on their respective side of the delimitation line in the Barents Sea.
The new agreement will entail a right for seismic vessels from both parties to cross the delimitation line and use their seismic equipment within a distance of 5 kilometers on the continental shelf of the other party.
This will secure both countries the possibility to aquire good quality seismic data up to, and along the delimitation line. Such data are important in case of a discovery of oil and gas extending across the delimitation line.
According to the Delimitaion Agreement of 2010, such discoveries shall be subject to unitization.