BAGHDAD (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th July, 2023) Baghdad and Moscow will launch a new stage of bilateral energy cooperation in gas sector, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Al-Sahhaf told Sputnik on Tuesday, adding that Russian companies based in Iraq are expected to boost their investments in the West Asian country's energy industry.
"At the next stage Baghdad and Moscow will launch a qualitatively new type of cooperation in energy sphere and in gas sector in particular," Al-Sahhaf said without specifying the exact projects under discussion.
The spokesman also said Russia and Iraq were boosting cooperation in the oil and gas sector and that Russian companies based in Iraq were expected to further increase their investments in the Iraqi energy industry.
Russia and Iraq have been closely cooperating in the field of energy, with a number of large Russian oil and gas corporations, including Lukoil, Rosneft, Gazpromneft operating in the country. Earlier in July, Iraqi Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghanni told Sputnik that Western sanctions against Russia did not affect cooperation between Moscow and Baghdad in the energy sector and announced plans to expand joint projects with Lukoil at the West Qurna-2 field in southern Iraq.
