Europe took a surprise step towards reducing its dependence on Russian gas yesterday as two of its oil companies agreed to develop a big gas field in Kurdistan, Iraq's semi-autonomous region. OMV, of Austria, and Hungary's MOLagreed the deal, which will feed the planned Nabucco pipeline. The 3,300km pipeline is the centrepiece of Europe's energy policy and attempts to reduce imports from Russia by providing the region with gas from central Asia. However, it is struggling to find suppliers. OMV and MOL, with their regional partners, are to invest $8bn (