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Tuesday, August 12th, 2014

ExxonMobil And Russia Began Drilling For Oil In The Arctic On Saturday

Author:     JEFF SPROSS
Source:     Think Progress
Publication Date:     August 11, 2014 at 12:21 pm
 Link: ExxonMobil And Russia Began Drilling For Oil In The Arctic On Saturday
Stephan:   The Virtual Corporate states do not see themselves as owing allegiance to any nation. They are not tied to geography, as was the case in earlier years. You can see this in the Inversion Trend. If you have any remaining doubts as to whether this is one of the great geopolitical trends, akin to the rise of nation states, I present this to make my case.

ExxonMobil began drilling in the Russian Arctic on Saturday, defying both the spirit of recent U.S. sanctions and environmental opposition to oil exploration in the region.

According to Fuel Fix, the well is a joint $700 million project between ExxonMobil and Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil producer. Drilling is anticipated to take about 70 days, and will target the Universitetskaya – a geologic formation under the ocean floor that’s roughly the size of the city of Moscow. Rosneft estimates the formation could contain up to 9 billion barrels of oil, making it a major target for Russian oil exploration. Energy provides half the Russian state’s revenue, and the country has so far maintained its oil production at a post-Soviet high of over 10 million barrels per day.

ExxonMobil’s output fell to a five-year low in the second quarter, so discovering new reserves in the Universitetskaya would also be a major boost.

‘The well is very important, it’s probably one of the most interesting wells in the global oil industry for many years,” James Henderson, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told Fuel Fix in a phone interview.

The West Alpha rig, which ExxonMobil leased from Bermuda-based Seadrill Ltd., is doing […]

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