Vladimir Selin, Chief Research Scientist at the Kola Science Center, believes that the agreement on delimitation of the Barents Sea follows Norway’s interests more than it follows Russia’s:
- It is hard to understand who’s behind the Russian side in the Russian-Norwegian agreement from September 15, Selin says to Regnum.ru. – It is also hard to see why Russia needs this agreement – the pluses for Russia are unclear, but the minuses are evident.
Read also: Norway and Russia sign maritime delimitation agreement
Selin believes that Russia will not be able to make use of the assumed oil and gas riches in the area covered by the agreement in many years, since the country lacks the technology to develop these fields. – Development of the Shtokman field is the most relevant project now, he says. But he believes that also this project will be harder to accomplish with the new agreement:
- Norway has used up all its rich resources, and sees the new area in the Barents Sea as godsend. If the country has got hold of new fields, why should it care about this risk-laden Shtokman?
Selin predicts that Statoil will withdraw from the Shtokman project. Not necessarily officially, but by being less determined to take active part.
Lately, Russian fishermen have also started to criticize the Norwegian-Russian agreement on delimitation of the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, claiming that Norway now has far more to say in the management of the fish resources in the area, and that Russian fishermen are being forced out of the area.
