The Murmansk regional administration has got 60 additional powers and has hired 625 new people. Now several regional ministries will be established as part of a major administrative restructuring plan.

Troms Energy is planning to spend 130 million EUR on a windmill park in northern Norway

Russian fishery boss Andrey Krainy says there is a need for more harmonized fishery regulations with Norway in the waters around Spitsbergen.

In the course of the next month a tender on the construction of a major trade and transport complex for the Shtokman project will be held, representatives of the Murmanshelf organisation confirm.

The last thing Viktor Zubkov did before leaving the prime minister’s post was to sign the decree on the transfer of 30 percent of the remaining federal gas reserves to Gazprom.

Emergency authorities in Norway prepared for action when the oil rig “Polar Pioneer” today reported about smoke development in one of its engines. The rig currently operates at the “Tornerose” field in the Barents Sea.

An Indian Navy representative says negotiations over the takeover of the aircraft carrier “Admiral Gorshkov” will continue until after summer this year and that the country’s armed forces expect to include the vessel in its navy in year 2012.

With Vladimir Putin as Russia’s prime minister, the federal ministries are bolstered with a number of new powers, while agencies and services lose independence. Among the losers is the State Committee of Fisheries.

President Dmitrii Medvedev yesterday announced the names of his top representatives in the seven federal districts. Ilya Klebanov remains head of the Northwest Russian Federal District.

The Russian General Consul in Kirkenes, Norway, says he believes the upcoming foreign minister meeting between Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and Norway’s Jonas Gahr Støre will be a landmark in Russian-Norwegian relations.

"Gazprom and the government have long had a close relationship, but the revolving door between them is spinning especially fast this year: Medvedev, 42, replaces Putin as president; Putin becomes prime minister, replacing Viktor Zubkov; and Zubkov is expected to take Medvedev's place as Gazprom's chairman at a general shareholders meeting in June", the International Herald Tribune reports.

Regional authorities in Murmansk have allocated 600 million RUB (16,3 million EUR) for the upgrade of the Prirechny-Nikel road leading to the Norwegian border.

Minister of Environment Paula Lehtomäki believes that the Russian-German Nord Stream pipeline through the Baltic Sea could have serious environmental impact on the local environment.

North Norwegian city of Tromsø is planning to apply for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. However, recent disagreement within the local Olympic committee is threatening to hamper the plans. On Wednesday, Mr. Petter Rønningen was appointed new committee leader.

Most of the officials in the Russian presidential administration will remain in their posts under new president Dmitrii Medvedev. The few new faces in the administration either come from Gazprom or from the former government.

After eight years of repairs, the Russian nuclear submarine “Nizhny Novgorod” this month returned to its duties in the Northern Fleet.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin yesterday urged his government to give Russia a modern fleet of ships for its flourishing energy sector. His first official visit as PM went to the Admiralty Shipyard in Sankt Petersburg

The technical problems at StatoilHydro's LNG plant at Melkøya in Northern Norway account for Norway’s three percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2007.

Russian mining and metallurgy giant Norilsk Nickel confirms that it has bought cleaning technology for its plant in the border town of Nikel, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reports.

A support base for the Shtokman project will be established at Novaya Zemlya, sources involved in the project development report. So far, the archipelago is most known for its 132 nuclear test launches.