Royal Dutch Shell and Gazprom of Russia have agreed to broaden their cooperation in the pursuit of mutually beneficial upstream and downstream opportunities.
Alexey Miller, chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Peter Voser, chief executive officer of Shell, signed a protocol on a strategic global cooperation which establishes basic guidelines for the companies’ overall collaboration.
Under the agreement the companies will consider pursuing further development of bilateral cooperation in exploration and production of hydrocarbons in western Siberia and the far east of Russia in addition to cooperation in the downstream oil products business in Russia and Europe, as well as Gazprom participation in Shell upstream projects outside of Russia.
“This agreement is a vivid example of the mutually beneficial development of strategic partnership between the world’s largest energy companies. Ahead of us, we have new large-scale projects and growing joint presence in new markets”, said Alexey Miller.
“This underscores the strong partnership our companies have built in recent years,” said Voser. “Russia is an important area for new energy development for Shell and I expect it will play a big role in meeting the world’s growing demand for oil and gas in the years ahead.”
Shell and Gazprom will set up joint working groups to further develop these opportunities, according to a Shell statement.