Equinor, Rosneft to cooperate in cutting emissions in Russia

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor and Russia's Rosneft have agreed to cooperate on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases from their joint oil and gas projects in Russia, the two energy firms said on Wednesday.

The companies will seek to reduce emissions of methane and CO2, including by ending the routine flaring by 2030 of gas that comes as a by-product of oil production.

They will also explore alternative energy such as wind turbines to power oil and gas installations and seek to apply carbon capture and storage to prevent emissions of climate-warming gases, the companies said.

"We are happy to work together with Rosneft and share best practice to address climate change," Al Cook, Equinor's head for international exploration and production, said in a statement.

Equinor produces about 23,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in Russia, a tiny fraction of its total global output, according to the company's website.

The Norwegian company's cooperation with Rosneft includes the heavy oil and gas field North Komsomolskoye in West Siberia and the Severo-Danilovskoe oil and gas condensate field.

Equinor, previously called Statoil, signed a strategic cooperation with Rosneft in 2012. The plans had to be scaled down however due to Western sanctions imposed on Moscow for Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Mark Potter)