MOSCOW, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- Russian oil company Rosneft said the discovery of oil in an arctic license area came as the result of a united effort with its Western energy partners.
Rosneft estimates the discovery at an area in the Prinovozemelskiy-1 license area in the Kara Sea holds at least 700 million barrels of oil.
"This is an outstanding result of the first exploratory drilling on a completely new offshore field," Rosneft Chief Executive Officer Igor Sechin said in a statement Saturday. "This is our united victory; it was achieved thanks to our friends and partners from ExxonMobil, Nord Atlantic Drilling, Schlumberger, Halliburton, Weatherford, Baker Hughes, [and others]."
The company said the entire area could hold as much as 87 billion barrels of oil.
Greenpeace activists this year trailed some of the international rigs headed to arctic waters to raise awareness about the risks they see to the arctic environment.
Rosneft said the operations in the Kara Sea were concluded in compliance with all ecological standards and requirements.
The oil discovery announcement comes as Rosneft copes with a string of sanctions filed against the Russian companies from Western powers frustrated with Russia's actions in eastern Ukraine.
