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
9 June 2025
Weaning poorer regions off coal means gas needs to be abundant and competitive longer term
9 June 2025
LNG has opportunities to expand in established markets and access new ones, but the sector’s outlook is also fraught with uncertainties, from political and regulatory difficulties to chokepoints, project delays and cost overruns, says the IGU
6 June 2025
A subdued market amid global trade tensions is just an aberration in gas’ upward trajectory
6 June 2025
CEO Meg O’Neill explains the virtue of patience in offtake discussions amid tariff tensions
