Lukoil is still keen to establish itself in the Iraqi oil and gas industry with a possible future bid on the West Qurna 1 field.

The bidding round for West Qurna 1 and seven other fields was resolved yesterday (June 30th), with many fields remaining in the hands of the Iraqi authorities because of what were deemed to be prohibitively low profit projections on the fields.

Lukoil, as a services contract bidder, was seeking a $4 per barrel return, but the Iraqi oil ministry would go no higher than $1.90.

Speaking to Russia Today, Ronald Smith, chief strategist at Alfa Bank, said that Lukoil's past experiences in the country may help to strengthen its case should it resubmit a bid.

"Lukoil has been working with [Iraq] for a while and knows a lot of the people who help determine things in the oil industry. They brought a number of Iraqi engineers to West Siberia for training over the years," he said.

Only BP and China National Petroleum Company made successful bids for tenders in the country, with some licences failing to attract bids, while other fields received bids that were at an irresolvable disparity to the requirements of the ministry.

Global Education and Training event: Getenergy for Iraq