Rosneft, ExxonMobil Continue Drilling for Now

Russia's Rosneft and U.S. ExxonMobil are continuing to drill in the Kara Sea and plan to stop work by Oct. 10, Russian Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said on Tuesday.

"They are drilling and will be drilling until Oct. 10. They did have to stop on Sept. 26 but they extended," he told reporters on the Pacific island of Sakhalin where he was attending an energy conference.

Exxon said on Friday that the U.S. Treasury Department had given it a short extension to wind down a rig at the well, beyond the 14 days outlined in the sanctions targeting Western cooperation in Russia's oil sector over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis.

Reporting by Denis Pinchuk