Russia's largest private oil firm LUKoil has launched exploration drilling on the giant West Qurna-2 oilfield in Iraq, company head Vagit Alekperov said on Tuesday.
"We have launched drilling, well borers are already there," Alekperov told reporters.
In 2009, a consortium comprising LUKoil and Norway's Statoil won a tender to develop one of the world's largest oilfields West Qurna-2, whose recoverable reserves are estimated at 12.9 billion barrels of oil. However, work on the deposit did not start because of the launch of military operations in the country.
