19 May 2011
The collapse of BP Plc's alliance with Russia's state-run oil company brings one of the world's largest untapped drilling opportunities back onto the market.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are potential candidates should Rosneft look for a new partner to explore Kara Sea in Russia's Arctic, a person with knowledge of the company's plans said.
Rosneft will start talks with replacements immediately, another person said, Bloomberg reported.
BP's four-month battle to salvage the Rosneft deal, which included a $7.8 billion share swap, was driven by the chance to unlock as much as 15 billion barrels of oil, equal to more than five years of US crude production.
The biggest oil companies are competing for a diminishing number of drill sites as foreign governments deny access to resources and existing fields are depleted.
"It isn't difficult to find partners for the Arctic," said Valery Nesterov, an oil industry analyst at Troika Dialog in Moscow. "There is competition."
The collapse of BP Plc's alliance with Russia's state-run oil company brings one of the world's largest untapped drilling opportunities back onto the market.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are potential candidates should Rosneft look for a new partner to explore Kara Sea in Russia's Arctic, a person with knowledge of the company's plans said.
Rosneft will start talks with replacements immediately, another person said, Bloomberg reported.
BP's four-month battle to salvage the Rosneft deal, which included a $7.8 billion share swap, was driven by the chance to unlock as much as 15 billion barrels of oil, equal to more than five years of US crude production.
The biggest oil companies are competing for a diminishing number of drill sites as foreign governments deny access to resources and existing fields are depleted.
"It isn't difficult to find partners for the Arctic," said Valery Nesterov, an oil industry analyst at Troika Dialog in Moscow. "There is competition."
© Iran Daily 2011
