A new company should be the state operator overseeing work on the Arctic shelf, Deputy Prime Minister and Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Yury Trutnev told journalists on October 1.

"We believe that offshore Artic projects are a sensitive matter for Russia. They are connected with Russia's external borders. Therefore the government should control them. Which company? I think it should be a new one. None of the existing companies are fit for this role; they have no reason to carry on the work on the shelf seeing they have already accumulated the reserves," Trutnev explained.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister "a new company needs to be started right from scratch", which would not only represent Russia, but would also be motivated to up production and the number of offshore projects.

"It seems to me that things just won't work otherwise," concluded Trutnev.