By Murat Temizer

ANKARA

Russian oil giant Rosneft and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq agreed to cooperate in five oil production blocks in northern Iraq, Rosneft said late Wednesday.

Rosneft in a written announcement said the parties agreed to implement the geological exploration program and to start pilot production as early as 2018.

It noted that in the case of successful results from the pilot, it planned to start full-field development of the blocks in 2021.

"According to conservative estimates, the total recoverable oil reserves at five blocks may be about 670 million barrels," Rosneft noted.

The amount of payments for the projects for each of the five blocks ranges from $40 million to $110 million and may total $400 million, Rosneft said, adding that payment of $200 million could be compensated through oil produced from the blocks.

Furthermore, the Iraqi central government in Baghdad asked BP to develop oil fields in Kirkuk in northern Iraq, which came under the central government's control on Tuesday.