The president of Russia Dmitry Medvedev has welcomed Norway's largest oil and gas firm Statoil during a two-day state visit to the country.

The Moscow Times reports that the head of state invited Statoil to explore the Prirazlomnoye field alongside Russian firms.

Prirazlomnoye is an arctic field that will require the development of new technologies and the provision of extensive technical training.

"Russia has drilled on the far eastern shelf, for example, but never extracted oil from the Arctic sea shelf like that one. So it will appreciate Norwegian knowledge and experience in the project," said Mr Medvedev.

A consortium of Russian and international oil and gas firms have recently celebrated the commissioning of the Sakhalin II pipeline project in the far-east of the country.

Pipelines International reports that at the peak of production, more than 8,000 workers were involved in the project, with the majority of posts filled by Russian workers.

Getenergy for Russia & CIS, 19th – 20th May 2010 - Moscow