Tempted by Oil, Russia Draws Ever Closer to Iraq: on the problems the American continued opposition to Iraq causes Russia, focusing on Lukoil's West Qurna oil field contract. That contract can't be developed under the current U.N. sanctions and might not survive Hussein's fall.

This 1997 report,Oil, Business, and the Future of Iraqi Sanctions, from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy summarizes the oil reserves and deals that were in place around the time Lukoil signed it's West Qurna contract.