When the Kremlin announced last month it was granting StatoilHydro, the Norwegian energy company formed by the recent merger of Statoil with the oil and gas division of Norsk Hydro, a 24 per cent stake in a venture to develop Gazprom’s vast Arctic Shtokman gas field, it appeared to end years of bargaining on foreign investor involvement in the project.

The decision to make the company Gazprom’s second partner after Total in the $20bn Arctic project looked to be another sign that Russia was willing to bend on foreign investment in its strategic energy resources just a year after it abruptly cut off talks and said it wanted to develop Shtokman alone.