Russian government officials and senior executives from the energy giant ExxonMobil on Tuesday said the corporation had signed agreements with Moscow for oil and gas development projects worth up to 300 billion dollars in direct investment, dpa reported. Exxon Mobil President Rex Tillerson made the announcement at a joint press conference with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort city Sochi. The deal will give ExxonMobil access to shallow and deep fossil fuel fields in Russia's Arctic Sea region and, along with improvements to land infrastructure, could bring close to half a trillion dollars of international capital into Russia's energy sector, Putin said, according to Interfax. Russia's government has offered ExxonMobil tax breaks as part of the development programme which would be assisted on the Russian side by the Russian state oil company Rosneft. "We very much appreciate the efforts of the Russian government," Tillerson said. "This will have a positive effect on Russian and foreign investors." ExxonMobil since the early 1990s has been a lead participant in a joint venture to develop gas and oil from wells off shore of Russia's Sakhalin Island in the country's Pacific coast region. The project was bedeviled with disputes over operating costs and environmental impact. Corporate executives in January announced plans to spend some one billion dollars in off-shore development in Russia-controlled waters in the Black Sea, according to news reports. Putin has said attracting major international investment into Russia's energy sector is a top priority for his government, especially in areas like deep water drilling where Russian companies have relatively little experience.
