Russia's Oil Arm Signs Strategic Deal With Halliburton

en.ria.ru MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti) – Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly, has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with US energy services giant Halliburton to facilitate technological exchanges that will help increase production, the Russian company said Tuesday. “One aspect of cooperation will be special technical seminars for employees of Gazprom Neft, with the aim of getting to know the main ways in which Halliburton uses its technology,” Gazprom Neft said in a statement posted on its website. “Some of the most important topics will concern work with tight oil reserves, unconventional resources and deep-water drilling.” The agreement is the latest development in an increasingly close relationship between Russia’s Gazprom, which controls over 95 percent of Gazprom Neft, and the US contractor. Last yearHalliburton signed a similar agreement with Gazprom International, the gas monopoly’s international arm, and in May last yearHalliburton won a $95 million tender from Gazprom Neft to complete 12 wells being drilled by the company in Iraq.