WESTERN & SOUTHERN KURDS JOIN PUTIN : BARZANI MEETS GAZPROM & LAVROV / COOPERATION WITH RUSSIAN OIL MULTIS

Ninanews – Russia – 21.6.2013 –  President of Kurdistan Region Massoud Barzani discussed with Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, means to consolidate bilateral relations. A statement to the press issued on Thursday, June 20, by Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the issue of Geneva II over Syria was on top the discussion between Barzani and Lavrov.

The statement pointed out that the two paid special attention to the situation in the Middle East, especially about the Syrian crisis and that there is no other solution to solve it than political, through holding an international conference on Syria in Geneva. It pointed out the meeting between Barzani and Lavrov took place on the side of the Petersburg International Economic Forum; stating that they also discussed means to develop economic and investment relations with Kurdistan Region, as part of expanding the relations between Iraq and Russia. – Meanwhile the Russian Gasprom Co. said that it is considering cooperation with Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.

A statement issued after a meeting on Thursday between the Company’s President, Alexey Miller, and President of Kurdistan Region, Massoud Barzani, within the frame of Petersburg International Economic Forum, said that the Company is considering cooperate with the Region in the fields of gas and oil. The statement pointed out that the two discussed bilateral cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, especially exploration, drilling and investing in reservoirs.

It is worth mentioning that Gasprom Oil, which is a subsidiary of Gasprom has entered, last year, in to hydrocarbon exploration in Iraq and has signed two agreements with Kurdistan Region on sharing products of Shakal and Garmian fields in the southern parts of the Region. Early this year, Gaspromoil signed an agreement sharing production of Halabcha field of which the Company is to get 80% field’s share, where the field reserve is estimated to be about 90 million tons of oil.