JAPAN JOINS AZERBAIJAN’S "DEAL OF THE CENTURY."

Japan’s giant Itochu Corporation has bought part of the Pennzoil company’s stake in the "deal of the century" to develop Azerbaijan’s offshore oilfields Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli, it was officially announced in Baku and Houston yesterday. Last month, Itochu bought the McDermott company’s stake in the same project. The Japanese corporation now owns a 7 percent interest in the $8 billion multinational contract, marking Japan’s economic entry into the post-Soviet Caspian-Transcaucasus region. (Petroleum Information Agency, April 2)

Russian-Iraqi Talks.