Today, at the Gazprom Headquarters, Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee met with Odd Roger Enoksen, Petroleum and Energy Minister of the Kingdom of Norway.

Within the intergovernmental accords achieved earlier as well as the provisions of the Memorandum of understanding signed between Gazprom, Statoil and Hydro, the participants discussed the prospects of cooperation between Russia and Norway to develop the Arctic Shelf and the issues relevant to coordinating further activities in this direction.

Particularly, the meeting examined opportunities to provide joint extraction of potential hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic Region as well as developing technologies for the Arctic Shelf exploration including the Shtokman gas field.

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The Kingdom of Norway is the second-largest natural gas exporter to Europe, exporting 80.9 bcm as of the end of 2005. The oil and gas share in Norway’s GDP averages 15 per cent.

Norway’s major explored natural gas reserves are located in the North Sea and account for some 3.1 tcm.

Hydro is a large highly competitive Norwegian company producing considerable amount of oil, gas and electricity. With major production capacities located on the Norwegian continental shelf, Hydro is also engaged in hydrocarbon extraction in Canada, the Mexican Gulf, Iran and Angola.

A 76.3 %-state-owned vertically-integrated and multi-profile petroleum firm, Statoil is running business through 29 locations worldwide. The company counts on vast experience of operations in the Norwegian offshore and is the world’s third crude oil seller. Statoil is a major natural gas supplier to Europe.

On June 20, 2005, in Moscow Gazprom, Statoil and Hydro signed a Memorandum of understanding. In addition to the joint Arctic Region development the Memorandum stipulates evaluating the influence of oil and gas production on socio and economic development of the near regions and environment; personnel exchange, staff training as well as preparation for probation programs.