Norway and Russia to conclude Barents sea deal this summer

Initiated in 2010, Russia and Norway agreed to share and cooperate in the Arctic and Barents Sea.

Russia hopes to endorse the deal on the Barents Sea, the former "Grey Zone", said Sergey Donskoy, Russia's Natural Resources Minister.

"To date everything is complete, the signing of the deal is planned this summer at the next intergovernmental commission meeting," he said.

The offshore zone of an area about 175,000 square km is so-called the Grey Zone of the Barents Sea as it ended the 40-year-old territorial dispute between the two countries.

Norway sees the Barents Sea zone as the most trustful zone for new resource discovery. Next year, Statoil, Norway's state oil and gas company plans to pay increased attention to the former "Grey Zone" and will drill 5-7 exploratory wells in the Barents Sea.

Russia has already signed the agreement on collection and sharing of seismic data across the border. Norway is still to endorse it. According to Donskoy, this deal will widen the chances of joint projects of Russia and Norway.

Under this deal, the oil and gas reserves of the grey zone located along the border will be developed jointly by Russia and Norway.