Yusufov also said Russian companies will consider valid all oil contracts signed before the war was launched last month, Interfax reported.

Russia, which wants the United Nations to oversee reconstruction of Iraq, fears that the US-led coalition that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will refuse to allow opponents to the war have a hand in Iraqi's vast oil reserves.

"The effectiveness of our previous activities in Iraq lead us to hope that the world community will not doubt the effectiveness of our future work there," Yusufov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Russian oil companies have invested more than one billion dollars over the past seven years into Iraq's vast oil reserves, which are second only to those of Saudi Arabia.

Top oil firm company LUKoil has threatened to go to an international court if the post-war administration in Iraq fails to honor its massive contracts in Iraq, including a deal to develop the West Qurna-2 oilfield.

LUKoil held a 68.5-percent share in a consortium to develop the oilfield, with two other Russian companies -- Zarubezhneft and Mashinimport -- holding 3.25 percent each.

The Iraqi energy ministry held the remaining 25 percent in the consortium, under a deal signed in 1997.

Under the agreement, LUKoil was to invest about four billion dollars in the site's development by 2020, although the company has been unable to exploit the site due to UN oil embargos on Baghdad.

The Russian oil major insists the consortium deal is still valid, despite Baghdad's cancellation of the deal in December amid reports that the oil firm was negotiating possible post-war scenarios with exiled Iraqi opposition groups.

A handful of other Russian companies also hold large contracts in Iraq, with Tatneft and Zarubezhneft signing a joint deal to drill oilwells in two western Iraqi fields.

Earlier this year, Russia's Stroitransgaz signed a deal to carry out a geological survey in the western Iraqi desert.

Yusufov also said that Russia plans to increase its presence in the country by exporting "oil resources in Iraq that are used for humanitarian and food needs."

Last year, Russian companies bought 124 million barrels of Iraqi oil for a total of 2.8 billion dollars (2.6 billion euros), under the UN-administered oil-for-food program.

US President George W. Bush on Wednesday called for the United Nations to lift sweeping sanctions imposed on Iraq after it invaded Kuwait in August 1990 so Baghdad could freely trade its oil on world markets.

The oil-for-food program, which enabled Iraq to export limited amounts of oil and use the revenues to buy basic supplies, was suspended ahead of the start of the US-led war in Iraq in March.

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