Russia's Rosneft says starts surveys in Arctic JV with Exxon

MOSCOW: Russia's top oil producer Rosneft said on Friday it had started geophysical surveys in the eastern Arctic, advancing work with ExxonMobil despite Western sanctions over Ukraine.

Rosneft, which is not on the list of those sanctioned so far, said airplanes with special equipment would survey all six areas the two companies agreed to jointly explore, with a total area of 440,000 square metres due to assessed by the end of 2014.

The survey is required to establish the subsurface structure.