Russia's Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev confirmed this morning in Arkhangelsk at the second international forum The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue that Russia will begin geological exploration of the promising Barents Sea shelf located on the border with Norway in 2012.
The exploration will begin at the Fedynsky Arch deposit, in the southern part of the Barents Sea. High hopes remain for the region where an estimated 10-12 billion metric tons of fuel equivalent are thought to be found.
It was last year that Russia and Norway finally settled in the matter. "Forty-year-long talks have finished, we can now start working jointly. Norway has already begun seismic surveys in its part of the shelf. Russia plans to begin work in 2012. They will be funded from the federal budget," Trutnev said this morning.