According to a report by RIA Novosti Moscow, the state-owned oil magnate Rosneft expressed in a statement that Rosneft and U.S XOM (Exxon Mobil) recently decided to hold public tenders for design and manufacture of oil rigs that might make it easy for their exploration in the continental shelf at the North Pole.

This is the latest development in strategic cooperation between the two oil magnates that signed an agreement for exploration of offshore oil-gas reservoir in the Kara Sea and the Black Sea in April last year.

It was estimated by the two companies that petroleum reserve in the Kara Sea only is high up to 85 billion barrels.

Drilling in the North Pole area in Russia is expected to commence in 2015.