Rosneft, partners, eye Black, Barents seas

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ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, June 22 (UPI) -- Russian company Rosneft welcomed its European counterparts to take part in energy exploration in the Barents and Black seas.

Paolo Scaroni, the top executive at Italian energy company Eni, signed agreements in St. Petersburg with Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin for operations in the Black and Barents Seas.

Eni has a minority stake in a joint venture for the development of the Fedynsky and Tsentralno-Barentsevsky prospects in the Barents Sea and the Zapadno-Cernomorsky license in the Black Sea.

"The signing marks an important step for Eni in Russian upstream and reinforces the strategic partnership between the two companies," Eni said in a statement.

Norwegian energy company Statoil signed off on a similar deal with Rosneft on the sidelines of an economic summit in St. Petersburg. That venture, similar to the Eni deal, involves exploration cooperation in the Norwegian waters of the Barents Seas.

"Our partnership gives Rosneft access to substantial resources in the Norwegian section of the Barents Sea while putting together accumulated expertise and cutting edge technologies of the two companies will ensure the efficient development of tight oil fields in Russia," Sechin said in a statement.