MOSCOW, March 24: Russian President Vladimir Putin has written to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki asking him to support Russian investment in Iraq’s oil industry, the Kremlin said on Monday.

“Our companies are ready to increase their contribution to the reconstruction and modernisation of the economic infrastructure of Iraq, above all in the oil sector,” Putin wrote, according to a Kremlin statement.

Putin said he hoped Russian companies could, in particular, become involved in a contract for the exploration of the Qurna oilfield and the rebuilding of a pipeline between the northern city of Kirkuk and the Syrian port of Baniyas.

“I hope that the motivation of Russia businessmen... will receive appropriate support from Iraqi authorities,” Putin added.

Russian energy giant Lukoil signed a multi-billion-dollar contract in 1997 to explore the West Qurna 2 oilfield but was expelled because of disagreements with Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Putin’s letter was handed over during a visit to Baghdad by Iraq’s deputy minister for foreign affairs and Putin’s special representative for the Middle East, the Kremlin said.—AFP