Rosneft and ExxonMobil have agreed to expand their joint venture in the Russian Arctic including additional acreage, ExxonMobil announced.

Under the expanded 2011 strategic cooperation agreement, the joint venture will include an additional 600,000 sq km (231,661 sq miles) of exploration acreage in the Russian Arctic and potential participation by Rosneft, or its affiliate, in the Point Thomson project in Alaska. They have also agreed to conduct a joint study on a potential LNG project in the Russian Far East.

The agreements, which include plans to explore seven new blocks in the Chukchi Sea, Laptev Sea and Kara Sea, were signed by Igor Sechin, president of Rosneft, and Stephen Greenlee, president of ExxonMobil Exploration Co., in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The license blocks include Severo-Vrangelevsky-1, Severo-Vrangelevsky-2 and Yuzhno-Chukotsky blocks in Chukchi Sea, Ust’ Oleneksky, Ust’ Lensky and Anisinsko Novosibirsky blocks in Laptev Sea and Severo Karsky block in Kara Sea, which are among the most promising and least explored offshore areas globally.

A separate heads of agreement was signed providing Rosneft, or its affiliate, an opportunity to acquire a 25% interest in the Point Thomson Unit, which covers development of a remote natural gas and condensate field on Alaska’s North Slope. It is estimated that Point Thomson contains 25% of the known gas resource base in Alaska’s North Slope.

Rosneft and ExxonMobil also executed a memorandum of understanding to jointly study the economic viability of an LNG development in the Russian Far East, including the possible construction of an LNG facility. The companies will form a joint working group, which is expected to commence work in the coming weeks to study the viability of an LNG project using available natural gas resources.

According to the release, the companies are committed to using global best practices and state-of-the-art safety and environmental protection systems for the Arctic operations. The work will be supported by the recently signed Declaration on the Russian Arctic Shelf Environmental protection. Also, ExxonMobil and Rosneft will work together through an Arctic Research Center to provide a full range of research and design services to support their cooperation on Arctic projects.

Rosneft and ExxonMobil continue to implement a program of staff exchanges of technical and management employees to help strengthen relationships between the companies.