MOSCOW - LUKoil won back a lucrative multi-billion-dollar contract in Iraq following an agreement reached in Baghdad between company executives and Iraqi officials, a LUKoil representative said on Friday.
In December, Baghdad formally requested Moscow choose a replacement to develop the West Qurna-2 oilfield after LUKoil, Russia's number one oil producer, reportedly established contacts with Iraqi opposition figures.
But a LUKoil representative reported that the two sides on Friday had "dropped all complaints" against each other.
Asked if this meant LUKoil was once again in control of the West Qurna-2 contract, the company official replied "yes."
Baghdad's move in December drew the Kremlin's fury despite Iraqi assurances that the LUKoil contract would likely be awarded to another Russian company.
Separately, LUKoil said in a press statement issued in Moscow that the company and Iraqi officials planned to meet again before mid-February to map out joint work on the West Qurna-2 project in 2003.
It added the agreement reached in Baghdad was struck in the presence of Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov - Moscow's pointman on the Middle East - First Deputy Energy Minister Ivan Matlashov and Iraqi Vice President Tahar Yassine Ramadan.
LUKoil holds a 68.5-percent share in a consortium to develop the West Qurna-2 field with the Iraqi energy ministry and two other Russian companies that signed in 1997.
Under the agreement, LUKoil was to invest some four billion dollars in the site's development by 2020, although the company has been unable to exploit the site due to existing UN oil embargoes on Baghdad.
The company estimated the site has oil reserves of some 20 billion barrels.
There was no initial reaction to the LUKoil announcement from Baghdad, where a senior Russian oil delegation was meeting with Iraqi energy officials.
Besides LUKoil, the two sides also signed three agreements for oil exploration and development in southern Iraq, Iraqi officials said.
A first accord was signed with the Russian company Stroitransgas-oil to explore and develop oil fields in the "block.4" region in southwestern Iraq, and a second deal with the Soyuzneftgaz firm to develop the southern Al-Rafidain oilfield.
The two ministries also signed an initial agreement for future investments in oil exploration projects in the southern Nahr bin Omar region.
Moscow has been one of Baghdad's principal diplomatic backers in the United Nations and is standing up firmly for its Soviet-era ally - where it has massive oil investments - in the face of any eventual war.
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