An official Russian delegation has held talks in Baghdad with the Iraqi Oil Ministry under-secretary, Fayez Shahin, about prospects for Russian companies participating in the development of Iraq’s energy resources, reported the INA news agency. Included in the discussions were to increase the involvement of Russian oil companies the Iraqi oil fields, and the implementation the agreement to train Iraqi oilmen in Russia
A Russian oil consortium lead by LUKoil, Russia’s largest oil concern, won a tender in 1995 to develop Iraq’s West Qurna field. A production-sharing agreement in 1997 and scientific work has already been carried out at the site, but no actual development can take place until the lifting of UN sanctions, which were imposed against Iraq in 1990 in the wake of its invasion of Kuwait.
Russia would like to increase it involvement in Iraq in part to recover debts worth several billion dollars, owed by which Baghdad since the days of the former Soviet Union. – (Albawaba-MEBG)
