23 December 2003 11:27
LUKoil bosses confident after meeting Iraqi leader
Russia's oil giant LUKoil regards the meeting with the head of Iraq's interim Governing Council, Abd-al-Aziz al-Hakim, in Moscow on Monday as "the beginning of the implementation of an oil contract with Iraq", the head of the company, Vagit Alekperov, was quoted as saying at a news conference following the meeting.
He said the head of LUKoil Overseas, Andrey Kuzyayev, will lead a delegation visiting Iraq on 29 December for talks on the contract to develop the West Qurnah-2 oilfield. Al-Hakim was quoted as saying: "In principle, we have no objections to this contract." He was also quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying: "Iraq is open to Russian companies and wants them to take part in the rebuilding of Iraq on competitive terms."
Abd-al-Aziz al-Hakim, who called his meeting with Vladimir Putin yesterday, "historic", said the issue of opening branches of Russian companies in Iraq with a view to developing cooperation was discussed.
Russia pledged to write off part of Iraq's debt in return for "maximum" Russian involvement in contracts to rebuild Iraq, the agency said. On the subject of Iraq's debt, Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov told journalists that "Russia will act in a civilized manner within internationally recognized laws to alleviate Iraq's economic burden," Interfax reported.
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