Lukoil pushes for Iraq oil field (16/02/05)

Lukoil is in talks with the Iraqi government to regain rights to the country's prized West Qurna oilfield and is hopeful of a quick nod from Baghdad now that national elections are over, the head of the Russian oil producer said. Lukoil is hoping to regain access to the oilfield it won rights to under deposed leader Saddam Hussein's regime, though discussions were said to have bogged down late last year.

"We feel that after successful completion of the electoral process in Iraq, we are hopeful that in the immediate future the Iraqi government will approve the implementation of our project," Lukoil President Vagit Alekperov told an energy conference in Houston. "We are in dialogue with the Iraqi government right now."

Lukoil already has an office in Iraq and Alekperov himself earlier this year visited the country, which boasts the world's second largest oil reserves behind Saudi Arabia.

"So we hope that this year we will be able to advance ourselves in that project because we believe that this is a very prospective region where historically the Soviet Union has been very active," Alekperov said. "We hope that the market will open up soon and we will begin active work there," A large group of Iraqi experts are also being trained in Russia at the moment, he said.

Access to the West Qurna oilfield would be a shot in the arm not just for the Russian oil giant, but would also boost prospects for ConocoPhillips, the No. 3 US oil company. ConocoPhillips last year bought a stake in Lukoil under a deal that would give it a 17.5 per cent stake in the oilfield if the companies are able to return to West Qurna under terms agreed to under Saddam's reign.