A map (in Russian) of Rosneft's Kara Sea leases. Image: Rosneft. The Russian-American project, valued around $700 million, comes despite deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, in which each side has hit the other with sanctions, including shipments of Alaska seafood. The drilling comes comes as ExxonMobil and Rosneft continue to move ahead with additional plans for seismic surveys in the Russian Chukchi Basin above the Chukotka Peninsula west of the Bering Sea. Information from ExxonMobil says in 2014 alone, the company undertook geophysical and environmental studies in the Chukchi Sea, as well as in the Laptev Sea in the Russian far east. The Associated Press contributed information to this story.