Statoil chief executive Helge Lund said that if explorationefforts were successful the Domanik shale formation held the potential to be “aworld-class shale oil asset”.
Rosneft president Igor Sechin said that the deal was an example of the Moscow giant availing of a reliable partner in Statoil as well as the latest technology to unlock the country's hard to recover reserves.
The deal follows a heads of agreement signed during thesummer for a joint three-year pilot development spread across 12 licences in Russia’sSamara region.
