MOSCOW (Reuters) - Oil major ExxonMobil and Russia's Rosneft unveiled an offshore exploration partnership on Wednesday that could invest upward of $500 billion in developing Russia's vast energy reserves in the Arctic and Black seas.
Under the deal, signed in Moscow on Monday after nearly a year of talks, the partners will seek to develop three fields in the Arctic with recoverable hydrocarbon reserves estimated at 85 billion barrels in oil-equivalent terms.
A final investment decision on the project in the Kara Sea, north of Russia, is expected in 2016-17, the companies said in a presentation to analysts in New York hosted by Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson and Rosneft President Eduard Khudainatov.
Survey work on 20 'promising structures' in the Tuapse block of the Black Sea has found estimated recoverable reserves of 9 billion barrels of oil.
Tillerson said that Russia's commitment to reforming offshore energy taxation by abolishing export duty and slashing mineral extraction tax, and keep taxation stable for 15 years, had been crucial to unlocking the deal.
"There is a clear commitment to see these areas developed," he said in webcast remarks.
Also in attendance was Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, who hailed the partnership, which was achieved despite the historic mistrust that often prevails between Washington and Moscow.
"The development of Russo-American economic relations has been strongly affected by excessive politicization and historic stereotypes," Sechin told the presentation.
"This often prevents us from exploiting opportunities and focusing on concrete economic projects."
Under the deal Rosneft will also get 30 percent minority stakes in Exxon-led projects to develop hard-to-recover reserves in Texas, the Canadian province of Alberta and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
The partners will also study developing so-called 'tight' oil reserves in Rosneft's main oil producing base in Western Siberia.
Rosneft, Russia's top oil producer, will increase hydrocarbon output by 4 percent per year to 3.7 million barrels per day of oil equivalent in the decade to 2020, Khudainatov said.
Khudainatov said that the forecast rise from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2010 assumed an oil price of $90 per barrel in real terms as well as a favorable tax regime.
The rise was underpinned by a rapid rise in gas output. Including associated gas, state-controlled Rosneft expects gas output to rise to 45-55 billion cubic meters in 2020 from 12 bcm in 2010, Khudainatov said.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine, Melissa Akin and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Melissa Akin)
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