Iraq, Russia FMs to talk Kurdistan oil

Iraq and Russia’s foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss Russian oil investment in the Kurdistan Region, Russian officials said on Saturday.

Russia’s Sergei Lavrov and Iraq’s Ibrahim Al Jaafari will meet in Moscow, according to the Russian foreign ministry.

Al Jaafari’s visit will involve a meeting with Lavrov on the situation in the Kurdistan Region, as well as participation in a meeting of the Iraqi-Russian intergovernmental commission in which Russian oil investments in the region will be discussed.

Oil giant Rosneft has announced major investments in the Kurdistan Region in 2017, starting with a June deal to undertake operatorship of five hydrocarbons blocks and followed by a pipeline investment plan worth USD 1 billion announced in September.

On Friday, Rosneft revealed some initial details of its pipeline plans, which include the takeover of operatorship of the 700,000-bpd Kurdistan Crude Export Pipeline, slated for an expansion to 950,000 bpd.

The company is also planning to build a gas export pipeline in the Kurdistan Region with a capacity of up to 30 bcm (1.06 tcf) per year.

The announcement came days after Iraqi forces took control of the oil-rich Kirkuk region – with further fighting anticipated between Iraqi and Kurdish Pershmerga forces – and was widely seen as a vote of confidence in the Kurdistan Region’s future by Rosneft.

The company also unveiled a crude purchase agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government in February. The agreement will last until 2019.

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin told reporters in Verona on Friday that the company planned to stick to its investments in the Kurdistan Region despite the recent upheaval. “We operate anywhere in the world where there is oil… Why can’t we operate there?” Sechin said.