KRG discusses new oil contracts with Russian Rosneft: PM

“We are delighted that the Russian companies are active in the Kurdistan Region."

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said that the Region is currently in talks with the Rosneft in order to sign new contracts, Russia-based RIA Novosti reported on Monday. 

Rosneft is a major oil company, based in Moscow, in which the Government of Russia holds a majority ownership.

According to the news report, Barzani said, “the KRG already has a contract with Rosneft and it will continue its economic cooperation with the Russian company.”

He made sure to point out that no final agreement has been reached yet, but stressed that the KRG is open to Russian investment, adding, “We are delighted that the Russian companies are active in the Kurdistan Region.”  

In October, not long after the Region's Sep. 25 independence referendum was held, the Russian state-owned company signed major contracts with the KRG to develop five oil blocks.

“In terms of Iraqi Kurdistan, we are obviously moving forward on the projects, and we are actually quite excited about that opportunity,” Pavel Fyodorov, the company’s first vice-president, told the Financial Times. “It is a manifold opportunity that has infrastructure and production components to it.” 

Recently, Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East, expressed Moscow’s support for the work of Russian companies in the Kurdistan Region.

Major Russian oil firms already operate in the Kurdistan Region, including Rosneft, Gazprom, and Lukoil.

Editing by John J. Catherine