During the official speeches Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrastani statement was made that Lukoil will compete for the acquisition of minority stake deposit "of the West Qurna 2" on general grounds. In 1997, LUKoil signed an agreement on cooperation with the Ministry of Oil of Iraq and the section of well production in this field. The agreement was estimated at 6 billion dollars of investment and was to be implemented until 2020.

The government of Saddam Hussein canceled the contract with the company in 2002, in connection with the failure of the Russian side development environment. This was due to heavy international UN sanctions imposed against the country in that period. The resumption of relations was expected after the cancellation

Russia planned to sign a bilateral agreement, under which it write off a debt in exchange for access to the "West Qurna-2." Nevertheless, as a member of the Paris Club of creditors on an unconditional basis of Russia wrote off 80% of all the debts of Iraq. Now, as reported by Hussein al-Shahrastani, deposit with proven and understandable terms of development, such as the West Qurna-2 ", will be transferred to the National Oil Company of Iraq.

LUKOIL has the experience in international programs and with the cooperation with the U.S. partner Phillips, the company has all chances to win the competition to develop. The field "of the West Qurna-2" one of the largest fields in Iraq, according to experts, its capacity is 8.10 billion barrels of oil, but according to recent data even 24 billion barrels. But in Russia, all available stocks in the aggregate are estimated at less than 80 billion barrels. However, in many respects the final decision will depend on the political climate of countries.