While Russia’s Rosneft was busy becoming friends with ExxonMobil in the Kara Sea it has also settled into a new relationship with Statoil for drilling in the Barents Sea.

Rosneft is set to become a partner on a new Statoil-operated exploration well to be drilled by the Transocean Spitsbergen rig targeting the Pingvin-1 prospect. The rig recently received a drilling permit from the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate to get underway with the well.

Operating in a water depth of 422 m (1,384 ft), Pingvin-1 is to be drilled to a total vertical depth of 1,516 m (4,972 ft) in Barents Sea license PL713. RN Nordic Oil, a subsidiary of Rosneft, is one of the partners on this license, along with North Energy and Edison International’s Norwegian branch. The license covers four blocks, 7219/2 and 3 and 7319/11 and 12.

According to Rosneft, this was one of the largest tranches of acreage offered in the 22nd Norwegian Licensing Round, and lies close to Statoil’s Johan Castberg potential development area.

The Transocean Spitsbergen just recently completed a three-well exploration campaign in the frontier Hoop area of the Barents Sea, which targeted three prospects – Mercury, Apollo and Atlantis. The 7324/9-1 Mercury well in PL614 resulted in a small gas discovery estimated to hold between 1 and 2 Bcm (35-70 Bcf) of recoverable gas. Previously Statoil said a reservoir was found at the Apollo well but did not contain hydrocarbons, while Atlantic was another small gas find.