Exxon Mobil, which is assisting a Russian state energy company in exploring the Arctic Ocean for oil and natural gas, took a pivotal step to further this project over the weekend.
A drilling rig to be operated by Exxon set sail from Norway on Saturday, two days after the downing of a passenger airliner in Ukraine led to mounting pressure in the United States and Europe for new sanctions against Russia. Those sanctions could target the country’s important energy industry.
For the Russian oil industry, much is riding on this summer’s prospecting mission to the Kara Sea, the body of water between the northern coast of European Russia and the Novaya Zemlya island chain. Russia depends on petroleum for about 60 percent of its export revenue, and for geopolitical clout, while on-land fields in Siberia are in decline.
Policies here are also important for world oil supplies, as Russia now pumps more oil than Saudi Arabia. Yet the domestic industry here relies on Western technical aid for offshore drilling, delivered through joint venture partnerships such as the Exxon agreement.
The drilling rig operated by Exxon and Rosneft, called the West Alpha, left the Norwegian port of Olen on Saturday, and by Tuesday was sailing north off the coast of Norway, public maritime records show.
Rosneft confirmed in a statement that the rig was en route. Exxon’s spokesman, Alan Jeffers, issued a statement saying only that the company is “evaluating the impact of the sanctions.”
On Tuesday, European foreign ministers met in Brussels to consider new sanctions against Russia. David Cameron, the British leader, told Parliament on Monday that “Russia cannot expect to continue enjoying access to European markets, European capital, European knowledge and technical expertise while she fuels conflict in one of Europe’s neighbors.”
The United States last Wednesday limited Rosneft’s long-term borrowing in a Ukraine-related sanction, though Exxon’s joint venture was not directly affected. The next day, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed, killing 298 people.
The drilling expedition, including a rig and support ships, was choreographed for the summer months, when the Kara Sea is free of ice, ruling out any delays.
Initially, attention on the joint venture fell on environmental risks. Russia last fall detained a Greenpeace vessel and its crew of activists protesting another Russian rig in the far north. If oil were spilled in the winter, cleanup would take place in the total darkness that engulfs the region during those months.
For Exxon, the deal, which was reached in 2011, offers access to the Arctic in the Russian-controlled areas of the ocean, as drilling in the American and Canadian far north remains bogged down in regulation and lawsuits. Shell has also played down the commercial prospects there.
Over all, the stakes are high for the petroleum industry in the Arctic. The United States Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic holds one-fifth of the world’s undiscovered, recoverable oil and natural gas, much of it in the ocean’s Russian sector.
This summer, Exxon and Rosneft plan to drill one exploration well in the Kara Sea. The companies made an initial commitment to invest $3.2 billion in the exploration phase of the venture, which included earlier seismic exploration.
It is unclear how or if Exxon could recoup these costs if sanctions on Rosneft are broadened. Exxon’s chief executive, Rex W. Tillerson, has publicly objected to further sanctions. Other oil companies including BP of Britain, Statoil of Norway and Total of France have cut new deals with Russian companies or pressed ahead with negotiations in spite of the risk of additional sanctions.
