Nothing of the kind has ever been seen this far north. In only few years, the Vostok Oil developers intend to drill a massive number of wells and build the infrastructure needed for the production and exports of up to 100 million tons of oil per year.

Already by 2025, up to 30 million tons is to be produced and delivered across the Northern Sea Route.

On the 16th November, Rosneft’s Board of Directors approved the inclusion in the project the first major partner. Singapore-based Trafigura acquires a ten percent stake in the company, Rosneft informs. The price for the acquisition is not disclosed, but a market analyst says to newspaper RBC that it is probably “no less than $7 billion”.

The oil trader is a long-time partner of the Russian company. Since 2013, many million tons of Rosneft’s oil has been traded by Trafigura.

The Russian company is also negotiating with several more potential partners. Among them are companies from India. That country’s Minister of Oil, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan in early 2020 confirmed that Indian companies will participate in the project.