The United States, according to a report in Bloomberg, is “irritated” by a signed offshore exploration cooperation agreement between Rosneft and a consortium of Japanese companies.
Citing sources familiar with the issue, Bloomberg said the US believes that Japan, as part of the Group of Seven Allies, should not be working against sanctions imposed in 2014 on the Russian oil and gas industry in response to the Soviet’s annexation of Crimea.
The Group of Seven Allies, known as G7, comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
These sanctions apply to five Russian companies, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas, and Rosneft, prohibiting the exportation of goods, services, or technology in support of exploration or production for Russian deepwater, Arctic offshore, or shale projects that have the potential to produce oil.
All U.S. companies were given until September 26, 2014 to stop operations in Russia to comply with the sanctions outlined by the Treasury.
ExxonMobil was given an extended deadline to safely complete drilling the University well – the world’s northernmost – in the Kara Sea. The EU imposed similar sanctions.
In December Rosneft signed a memorandum of agreement with the consortium of Japanese oil companies comprising Inpex, Jogmec, and Marubeni.
Jogmec said that the deal was to facilitate exploration in the southwestern offshore area of Sakhalin Island, which is a part of Russia.
The area is in close proximity to Japan where a hydrocarbon discovery would promote energy security the Land of the Rising Sun.
Bloomberg said the joint exploration location was the Central Tatarsky license.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin has stated that Rosneft plans to conduct 10,000km of 2D and 2,000km of 3D seismic to identify and “drill promising structures” in the northern part of the Sea of Japan within the Centralno-Tatarsky area – an area of 30,000 sq.m and resources of 270 mln.t of oil and 322 bcm of gas.
While Japan has sanctioned Russia, its list does not include the oil and gas industry and, in particular, offshore oil and gas exploration.
