Lukoil optimistic over Iraq negotiations
Posted: 15 January 2004
Negotiations by Russian oil major Lukoil in Iraq are progressing
optimistically, Lukoil Vice President Leonid Fedoun said at a press
conference.
"It is no secret that company management held talks with the
Iraqi government at the end of December. I can say that the situation
is progressing optimistically for Lukoil," he said.
At the same time Fedoun said that given the complex nature of the
situation, the company will not comment on the pace of negotiations
until an official visit by Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov to Iraq.
A Lukoil delegation headed by Lukoil-Overseas president Andrei
Kuzyaev visited Iraq on December 29 to hold talks with the Oil Ministry
regarding the Western Qurna-2 oil project.
Earlier, on December 22, Alekperov met Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, head
of the Iraqi interim government, to discuss the company's work in
the country.
A consortium made up of Lukoil - 68.5%, Zarubezhneft - 3.25 per
cent, Mashinimport - 3.25 per cent, and the Iraqi Oil and Gas Ministry
- 25 per cent, signed a production sharing agreement in March 1997
for the development of the Western Qurna-2 field until 2020.
Spending on the development of the field, with possible reserves
of 20 billion barrels, is estimated at $6 billion. The sanctions
in place against Iraq after the Gulf War prevented the Russian company
from carrying out oil projects in Iraq.
Saddam Hussein's government announced at the end of last year that
the contract to develop the Western Qurna-2 field has been torn
up due to the fact that Lukoil had not met its conditions.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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