Asia Bizz: UK’s BP and Russia’s Rosneft have signed an official deal that brings them together to share the offshore oil exploration, which also includes the Arctic region. The deals says that BP will be swapping shares with Rosneft, as 5% of BP shares will get transferred to 9.5% shares Rosneft. This is the biggest deal signed by BP after the infamous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

This has raised concerns in the US, especially the environmentalists, who are worried about the ecology of the Arctic. Arctic oil exploration was previously reserved only for Russia, but now as they share it with BP, both companies will enjoy massive profits from Arctic oil drilling. Experts state, there are billions of barrels of oil under the Arctic sea, which has not been touched, this deal will push to companies into a new horizon of off shore drilling.

BP CEO Bob Dudley is quite happy after the deal was finally signed and said that “this is a template as of business can be done in our industry”. The only worry here according to the US is the environment of the Arctic could be harmed tremendously due to the drilling and exploration.

Source: Reuters