Exxon Begins Drilling Russia's Pristine Arctic Waters

Despite increasing western sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, Exxon Mobil has begun drilling their first well in Russia’s pristine Arctic territory on Saturday.

“Today, commercial success is driven by efficient international cooperation,” Reuters reported Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying on a video conference with Glenn Waller, ExxonMobil’s lead manager in Russia, and Igor Sechin, CEO of Exxon’s Russian partner Rosneft, which currently has sanctions imposed against it by the United States.

“Businesses, including Russian and foreign companies, perfectly realize that and despite certain current political difficulties, pragmatism and common sense prevail, and we are pleased to hear that,” Putin continued.

The West Alpha drilling rig, brought in by the oil giant from Norway, is the first to tap the earth beneath the Kara Sea. Environmental campaigners have long-warned that an oil spill in the Arctic would be devastating to the unique and unspoiled Arctic ecosystem. The territory slated for drilling, the Akademichesky field in the East- Prinovozemelsky -1 license  block, overlaps the Russian Arctic National Park ad threatens the wildlife at the nearby Novaya Zemlya Russian National Park, according to Greenpeace.