Iraqi Kurdistan wants to attract Russian oil companies to work on its territory, the Interfax news agency on March 18 quoted the head of the Iraqi Kurds' representative office in Moscow as saying.

The semi-autonomous region of Iraq is ready to take all necessary measures, including security ones, to ensure that Russian energy firms can work safely there, Aso Talabani told the agency.

Gazprom Neft, the oil sector of state gas company Gazprom, is currently working on four projects in Iraq of which three-- Halabja, Shakal and Garmian -- are located in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The company is continuing to explore the Halabja and Shakal blocks and is extracting a small amount of oil at Garmian.