MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's largest independent oil producer LUKoil is ready to participate in the West Qurna-1 oil project in Iraq on Baghdad's terms, CEO Vagit Alekperov said on Thursday.
"We have informed the Iraqi Oil Ministry that the consortium of LUKoil and Conoco Philips is prepared to hold direct negotiations on the West Qurna-1 project under the terms earlier announced by the Iraqi Oil Ministry," Alekperov said.
The Iraqi authorities held the first round of negotiations on West Qurna-1 in the summer of 2009. LUKoil's participation in the talks produced no results, with Alekperov saying that the project's terms were economically disadvantageous for the company.
Alekperov said LUKoil has now changed its opinion on West Qurna-1 following a detailed analysis.
Alekperov said the company was also participating in the second round of negotiations on the West Qurna-2 project, adding that the infrastructure of both West Qurna-1 and West Qurna-2 deposits required a single operator.
West Qurna is one of Iraq's biggest oil fields with estimated recoverable reserves of 11-15 billion barrels and production potential of about 1 million barrels per day.
LUKoil was involved in the development of the first phase of West Qurna and signed a contract with the Saddam Hussein regime to develop the second stage, but the deal was frozen in 2002. Iraq and LUKoil agreed in 2008 to establish a working group to amend the original contract on West Qurna-2.
West Qurna-2's proven recoverable reserves have been estimated at around 6 billion barrels of oil. Under the terms of the contract, output could amount to 4.8 billion barrels of oil and 56.4 billion cubic meters of associated gas. Investment in the project could reach $4 billion.
