Rosneft and Statoil have launched exploration drilling in the Sea Of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East, Rosneft quoted its Chief Executive Igor Sechin as saying June 2.

“Implementation of exploration and development shelf projects is one of the company’s key strategic tasks,” Sechin said in a statement issued by Rosneft.

“Rosneft is the nation’s only company which continues work on new shelf projects, despite the extremely complicated external conditions and in line with its license commitments.”