MOSCOW — Rosneft, Russia's largest oil producer, and Italy's Eni have signed a deal to jointly explore for oil and gas in Russia's Arctic.
The two companies signed the agreement on April 25 in the presence of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Rosneft and Eni said in a statement that they would set up a joint venture to explore two oil fields in the Barents Sea and one oil deposit in the Black Sea. Eni will have 33 percent in the venture. The companies said the three deposits are estimated to contain a total of 36 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
The agreement follows a similar deal between Rosneft and U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil.
