ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Russia is open to expanding its economic activities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, particularly in the oil and energy sectors, its consul general told Rudaw on Wednesday, with several Russian oil and gas companies holding large stakes in Baghdad and Erbil’s fields. 

“Russian-Iraqi relations are expansive, strong, and close in several sectors, including in the field of energy in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” Russian Consul General to Erbil Maxim Rubin told Rudaw’s Mushtaq Ramadhan on the sidelines of the Sulaimani Forum. 

“We are open to expanding Russian-Iraqi cooperation in all fields, and are ready to expand our relations and cooperation in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” he said. 

Iraq and the Kurdistan Region share close economic ties with Russia as a number of Russian oil companies operate in both the Region and in oilfields in southern Iraq. The two countries first established diplomatic relations in 1944. Lukoil, Gazprom Neft, and Rosneft are some of the major Russian oil and gas companies operating in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. 

In December, Lukoil acquired an additional 20 percent of the massive Eridu oil field in southern Iraq’s Dhi Qar province after a Japanese company sold half its stake, bringing Lukoil’s stake in the field to 80 percent.