Russian President Vladimir Putin has guaranteed the nation’s largest oil producer, LUKoil that its assets in Iraq will be safeguarded in the event that Saddam Hussein be ousted from power, reported Financial Times.
According to LUKoil’s President Vagit Alekperov, Putin has asserted that if the Iraqi regime were to fall, national laws would protect the Russian oil company’s investments in the country. LUKoil has a 68 percent stake in a consortium to develop Iraq's West Kurna oil field, with reserves of 20 billion barrels. It has so far invested six billion dollars into the field.
Home to one of the world's largest crude reserves, Iraq has been prohibited from exporting at capacity since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. A longstanding ally of Iraq and a strategic trading partner, Russia has forcedly proclaimed its opposition to a military campaign against Iraq and its support for lifting the United Nation (UN)’s sanctions, imposed by the Security Council. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
