The US-based Chevron group is said to be looking to take a stake in Ukraine’s natural-gas pipeline network, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.

Earlier this month, Ukraine approved a law allowing EU and US investors to buy up to 49% of Naftogaz, which operates the gas pipeline network for both domestic consumption and the transit of Russian gas to Europe.

Naftogaz owns one of the world’s biggest natural-gas networks, with nearly 25,000 miles of pipelines.

However, according to experts, Ukraine’s domestic network is in need of extensive investment. Chevron, which declined to comment on the matter, entered the Ukrainian market last year when it signed a shale-gas production-sharing agreement.

Meanwhile, the Russian oil group Rosneft has begun exploring for oil in a joint project with Statoil of Norway. The two companies have started operations at the Pingvin License PL713 prospect in the Norwegian section of the Barents Sea.

The test well will descend 422m through the Arctic waters and then bore through the soil to a total depth of 1,516m.

Norway, which is not a member of the European Union but is part of the European Economic Area free trade zone, has followed the EU in imposing sanctions against Russia over its alleged backing of rebels in eastern Ukraine.

These sanctions include restrictions on the sale of technology and equipment used for offshore drilling projects in the Arctic region. However, they only affect future projects and not those signed before the sanctions were agreed at the end of last month.