Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that Arctic offshore drilling planned for this year will be postponed until 2016 or later. “Drilling of wells (in Russia’s Arctic offshore territory) scheduled for 2015 will be delayed to the next year and possibly even longer,” Novak told Rossiya-24 state TV in an interview. He did not name specific projects. Sources previously told Reuters that Russian state oil producer Rosneft will be forced to postpone drilling a second well in the Kara Sea for at least two more years, as a result of Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova; Editing by Jack Stubbs)