The area which Russia is to gain possession of under a recently signed maritime border treaty with Norway could become a major gas and oil producing region, the energy resources minister said on Tuesday.
Last week, the leaders of Russia and Norway signed a treaty to delimitate their maritime border after 40 years of negotiations. The agreement, which is yet to be ratified by the two countries' parliaments, paves the way for the lifting of a 30-year-long moratorium on oil and gas extraction in the previously disputed 175,000 square km zone.
"We are getting an opportunity to prospect and, and, in future, to develop resources estimated to hold dozens of billions of [metric] tons of fuel," Yuri Trutnev said.
The minister earlier said that prospecting and geological studies would take at least 7-10 years, and hydrocarbon extraction in the area may start no earlier than in 2022-2025.
MOSCOW, September 21 (RIA Novosti)
