October 2011, Vol. 238 No. 10

Projects

Opportunities Mark ExxonMobil Partnership With Rosneft

The partnership between Rosneft and ExxonMobil to explore and develop Russia’s Arctic Basin has been met with some skepticism – understandably given some of the experience of western oil majors in Russia. But the deal is potentially of major significance for the Russian investment environment. Exxon was one of the first western oil companies in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union and is unlikely to have gone into the Arctic deal with Rosneft with its eyes closed. In terms of what it means for the Russian investment environment and, potentially for Rosneft, it can prove very significant, for four reasons:  First, it shows that the Russian oil sector i