MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has pledged to create "the most favorable tax and administrative environment" for newly agreed joint shelf projects between Russia's state-owned oil firm Rosneft and British Petroleum (BP), local press reported Saturday.

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He made the comments during a meeting with a BP management team, saying he was familiar with the newly signed agreement between the two companies on projects in Russia and third countries, and has been satisfied with their cooperation so far, according to the report.

Under a deal reached on Friday, BP will swap 5 percent of its stocks with a valued of $7.8 billion, for 9.5 percent of Rosneft's stocks.

The agreement also allows the BP to explore three blocks in Russia's Arctic Ocean which BP said could contain billions of barrels of oil and gas.

Bob Dudley, who became BP's chief executive last October, hailed the agreements on Friday, saying this is the first significant equity-linked partnership between a major international oil company and a major national oil company.

With exploration in the Gulf of Mexico still at a standstill and with no new wells drilled since the accident last April, the deal is generally seen as BP shifting focus towards the east.