Russia says LUKOIL gets role in Iran oil field

Tehran, Dec 11: Russian energy firm LUKOIL will sign a contract to give it a role in producing oil from Iran's Azadegan field, a Russian official said in Tehran today.

But Russia's Atomic Energy Agency chief, Sergei Kiriyenko, did not say when the deal would be concluded or what stake LUKOIL would have in Azadegan, a field that was to have been developed by a Japanese firm until talks collapsed.

''LUKOIL has carried out some exploration at Azadegan oil field and, according to a contract that will be signed in the future, Iran will allow the Russian party to participate in recovering oil in Azadegan directly,'' Kiriyenko told a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Japan's INPEX Holdings Inc had secured the right to lead the 2 billion dollar-plus development of Azadegan with a 75 per cent stake but talks ended without a final deal in October. The Japanese firm retained a 10 percent share.

Iranian officials have previously said Naftiran Intertrade Company (NICO), a state-owned firm, was planning to choose a foreign partner, possibly Chinese or European, to replace INPEX.

Kiriyenko was in Iran for talks with Iranian officials that would include discussing the Bushehr nuclear reactor that Russia is building in southwest Iran. But a Russian official had said the reactor was not the focus of the visit.

Reuters