PARIS, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Officials at French energy company Total said they were discussing offshore projects in the Black and Barents seas with Russian oil company Rosneft.
Total recently teamed with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom to develop the Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents Sea. Pierre Nerguararian, who heads Total's operations in Russia, was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying Total was eyeing offshore developments with Russia's Rosneft as well.
"We are in talks with Rosneft to develop offshore fields," he said. "We are looking at the Black Sea but it could also be cooperation in the Barents Sea."
Rosneft is pushing to expand its offshore business. Talks with Total follow a January deal with British energy company BP.
BP last month agreed to pay Rosneft more than $8 billion in shares for a 9.5 percent stake in the Russian energy company in addition to a development agreement for the Kara Sea on Russian's northern continental shelf.
A London court placed a temporary injunction on the deal following a lawsuit filed by Alfa Access-Renova, a consortium representing owners of the Russian half of TNK-BP.
AAR accused BP of going against the shareholder agreement when it signed the deal with Rosneft.
