ALEKPEROV ON OIL PRODUCTION IN IRAQ

Moscow, June 29 (RIA Novosti) - President of the LUKoil company Vagit Alekperov announced in Nizhny Novgorod that his company intended to begin producing oil in Iraq in 2005. On Monday power in Iraq was handed over to the provisional government controlled by the U.S., so LUKoil may start talks on a return to Iraq in the near future, Kommersant writes.

The company has shown great interest in only one Iraqi project, the development of the West Qurna 2 field, the largest undeveloped field in the country (estimated reserves of 3 billion tons of oil, and estimated cost to develop the field $6 billion). In a bid to return the contract to develop West Qurna to LUKoil (annulled under Saddam Hussein), Mr. Alekperov visited Baghdad on March 9 and signed a memorandum of mutual understanding and cooperation with the Iraqi oil minister. On June 22, Moscow hosted the first session of the joint technical committee of LUKoil and the Iraqi oil ministry.

Evidently, the Russian company hopes that the U.S.-controlled government will give it back the contract to develop the most promising field in the country, Kommersant writes.