Norway played down today the chances of an imminent agreement with Russia on settling a decades-long dispute over a region of the Barents Sea that could be rich in natural gas and oil, according to Reuters. Russia said last December that a deal was possible this year to end a disagreement dating back to the early 1980s, when the Soviet Union began exploratory drilling in the so-called grey zone of the Barents Sea. It stopped after Oslo objected. "Every day we get one day closer to an agreement but we're not going to be pushed by artificial timelines. We're going to do the work it takes to get to a balanced agreement," Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told Reuters. Any talk of a breakthrough was not coming from Norway, he said in an interview. Experts say bilateral relations improved after Moscow invited Norway's StatoilHydro and France's Total to join Gazprom in tapping the Shtokman deposit in the Barents Sea. "It will take political readiness on both sides to reach agreement. But it's a big complicated dossier which involves multiple interests on both sides," said Stoere, adding that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were working on the file patiently. "I believe that good neighbors in principle should have good borders and that living without settled borders is helpful to no one. I think this is the perspective that we share in the two governments and with that inspiration we try to take the dossier forward," he said. Russia, the world's largest energy producer, is in a race with Norway, Canada, the United States and Denmark to impose control over reserves of oil, gas and precious metals that could become more accessible as the Arctic ice cap shrinks. Moscow has repeatedly said it will not allow itself to be left behind in the race to exploit the Arctic and it talks of boosting its military presence there. "Every time there are statements from Russian leaders, they are often made in ways that trigger the worst suspicions. But if you look at actual Russian behavior, I think it is more often than not (according) to the books," Stoere said. He was speaking ahead of a meeting in Chelsea, Quebec, just outside Ottawa, of the foreign ministers of Norway, Canada, the United States and Denmark to discuss the Arctic at a time when interest in the region is growing.
