RUSSIA - Oct. 4 - Moscow Drives Hard Bargain On Iraq.

LUKoil Pres. Vagit Alekperov tells The FT that Pres. Putin has assured him LUKoil would not lose its valuable assets in Iraq's West Kurna oilfield, one of the world's largest with estimated reserves of 20 bn barrels, should Saddam Hussein be deposed. (As Washington seeks to win Moscow's approval for a tough new UN resolution on Iraq, analysts say Moscow is using its status as a permanent veto-holding member of the UN Security Council to maximise its commercial gain from the situation). Alekperov says Putin has made the issue of Russia's oil concessions in Iraq a top priority. He says: "I have been hearing guarantees from the Russian government". Even if the regime fell, he says, "the law is the law, the state is still there". Asked whether he has received assurances that oil was at the top of Moscow's agenda in negotiations with the US, Alekperov says: "Yes, of course. We try to understand the political situation, especially these last weeks, and we are engaged in constant dialogue with the Russian government". (LUKoil, in which the government owns a 14% stake, has invested more than any other Russian company in Iraq's oilfields. With a market capitalisation of $13.4 bn, LUKoil is Russia's largest oil company in terms of reserves. It holds a 68% stake in the $6 bn total investment in the West Kurna field, which lies 62 miles north-west of Basra. But neither LUKoil nor other companies have been able to bring about their projects in Iraq because of the UN 12-year sanctions regime. Iraq has used the lure of oil deals to gain political favour with Moscow, its key ally in the UN Security Council. But if Saddam is overthrown those deals could become worthless). But Alekperov says he expects that Washington and Moscow would eventually work out their differences, citing the recent co-operation between Putin and US Pres. Bush since the Sept. 11 2001 attacks.