Rogaland County, with Stavanger which is often called “oil capital” or “energy capital” of Norway, possesses a unique competence in developing oil and gas industry and this experience could be highly demanded by the Northern Russian regions waiting for a start of big Arctic offshore race.
A few years ago the leaders of two counties discussed a possibility of signing full-scale cooperation agreement. In the mean-time these intentions now start with a Memorandum of understanding between the Rogaland and Arkhangelsk. Rogaland has also established cooperation with other Russian Arctic regions – Murmansk and Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Since both Rogaland and Arkhangelsk have obtained the new Governors recently their intentions to reload cooperative relations seem much more visible.
Vice-Governor of Rogaland county Terje Halleland and his colleague, the Vice-Governor of Arkhangelsk oblast Alexei Alsufjev, had a meeting in Arkhangelsk on Thursday and came to a conclusion that such agreement is to be signed in the nearest future. Most likely this can happen in September when Rogaland plans to send to Arkhangelsk a political delegation headed by the Governor.
Last year Rogaland County put forward an initiative of arranging a cooperation between the Norwegian and Russian regions related to oil and gas activity in the Arctic. As a part of this initiative the Norwegian company Sigra group and Arkhangelsk association “Sozvezdie” have started a new project of studying the local industries related to oil and gas sector and their possibilities for establishing business contacts with companies in Stavanger. The results of this work can make a basis for new cooperative agreement between Rogaland and Arkhangelsk.
