Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev handed over the pair of Pechora Sea blocks, Pomorsky and Pomorsky-2, to Rosneft in a signing ceremony earlier this month, according to a Russian-language RBC.ru report cited by the Barents Observer.

The tracts, believed to hold between 292 million and 332 million barrels of oil equivalent, are part of the Severo-Pomorsky and Severo-Kolokolmorsky structures in the western Pechora Sea.

The latest awards add to Rosneft’s existing haul of 14 Arctic offshore licences, including acreage in the Kara and Barents seas where the company has struck exploration deals with foreign companies ExxonMobil, Statoil and Eni.

The state giant, led by powerful former energy czar Igor Sechin, is looking to gain a dominant position in the prospective frontier region – reckoned to hold more than a fifth of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas resources – as the Kremlin looks to open the playing field to private players.

Rosneft was earlier reported to have applied to the Ministry of Natural Resources for a further 24 licences in the Arctic, including 14 tracts mostly in the Laptev Sea.

It could though be facing competition from Russian privately owned giant Lukoil, which has reportedly submitted a $2.7 billion bid for four licences in the Laptev Sea.

Rosneft’s recent $55 billion acquisition of TNK-BP from joint-venture partners BP and AAR could leave the company strapped for cash for fresh exploration forays, potentially setting the stage for a new foreign tie-up

BP, which has raised its stake in Rosneft through the TNK-BP transaction, could be a potential candidate for such a partnership given the UK supermajor’s ambitions to expand into the Arctic, having seen an earlier deal with the Russian company fall through.

The head of Russia’s mineral resources agency Rosnedra, Aleksandr Popov, said exploration of the untapped Laptev and Chukchi seas would require shooting of 36,000 kilometres of 2D seismic as well as 9000 square kilometres of 3D coverage, in addition to drilling of 28 wells.

Online

Rosneft 'bags two Arctic licences'