Rosneft announces Kara comeback
Sechin confirms drilling has restarted in the Russian Arctic shelf, despite high costs and ongoing sanctions
Russia’s Rosneft has resumed drilling in the high-cost Arctic Kara Sea after a six-year hiatus, its CEO Igor Sechin announced in mid-August. The move comes despite the company making steep cuts to its upstream spending in response to the pandemic and its economic impact. Interest in Russia’s Arctic shelf reached a new high in September 2014, when Rosneft and its US partner ExxonMobil made the Pobeda oil discovery in the Kara Sea. By Rosneft’s estimates, the find held 130mn t (953mn bl) of valuable ultra-light oil and 422bn m3 of gas. A week after its announcement, though, Washington and its allies slapped sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea, prohibiting Western firms from the co
Also in this section
2 April 2026
Alongside a rapid continued build-out of renewables, China’s latest five-year plan stresses the value of domestic hydrocarbon production for energy security and calls for increased Russian gas imports
2 April 2026
The government is taking important steps to revive domestic production, lift investment and benefit from the geopolitical crisis even if more needs to be done in the longer term
1 April 2026
Golden Pass’s startup offers QatarEnergy a timely boost but may also force a difficult choice between honouring disrupted contracts and capitalising on soaring spot LNG prices
1 April 2026
It is not a case of if or when, but the length and magnitude of economic damage from elevated oil prices
