Barents Observer reports that Vladimir Selin, Chief Research Scientist at the Kola Science Center shares his opinion that the Agreement between Russia and Norway on the delimitation of the Barents Sea will result in Norway moving out of the Shtokman gas field and believes that it is part of the agreement.
" It is hard to understand who’s behind the Russian side in the Russian-Norwegian agreement from September 15, Selin says to Regnum.ru. – It is also hard to see why Russia needs this agreement – the pluses for Russia are unclear, but the minuses are evident"
According to Selin Russia does not possess the necessary technology needed to develop the fields covered by the agreement and will not do so for years to come. Selin theorizes that, with Shtokman as the main priority for Russia and the fact that Norway has used up all its rich resources, a side agreement was made on the two nations priorities as the gain for Russia is not nearly as visible as the gain by Norway.
He further states that Statoil will not necessarily officially withdraw from the shtokman gas field, but reduce their activities to next to nothing.
Source: Barents Observer