Rosneft, Statoil start exploration for oil and gas in Norway

MOSCOW, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Russia's Rosneft andNorway's Statoil have embarked on joint exploration foroil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf in the BarentsSea, Rosneft said on Monday.

The companies expect to analyse the drilling results upuntil the end of this year.

A subsidiary of sanctions-hit Rosneft was granted the awardof a 20 percent participating interest in the four fields withinthe Norwegian continental shelf in the Barents Sea during alicensing round last year. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova and Vladimir Soldatkin, editingby David Evans)