Chevron pursues major oil projects in Iraq

By N Saeed

US-based oil and gas giant Chevron is pushing ahead with two of southern Iraq's major oil projects and has joined a proposed pipeline that would carry Iraqi crude across Syria to the Mediterranean, the US energy major said in a statement published on Wednesday.

Taken together, the moves amount to a significant shift in Chevron's Iraq footprint from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) toward federal Iraq, Shafaq news agency reported.

Chevron withdrew entirely from the KRI in 2025, telling the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its annual filing that it had "completed exit agreements."

The company's attention has turned to the southern Iraqi oil facilities. On West Qurna (Phase 2), one of the largest oilfields in Iraq's southern Basra province, Chevron said it had built on agreements first signed in February 2026.

Chevron Exploration Services and the state-run Basra Oil Company "have signed an agreement which advances commercial negotiations in respect of West Qurna (Phase 2)," the company noted, adding that it "looks forward to sharing its expertise in successfully developing oil and gas projects to support Iraq in further developing its energy resources."

A parallel step came at Nasiriyah, a field in the southern province of Dhi Qar. Chevron Business Development EMEA Ltd. and the Dhi Qar Oil Company (TOC) signed an addendum to a Heads of Agreement dated August 19, 2025, a move Chevron indicated "advances commercial negotiations in respect of the Nasiriyah Field and surrounding Nasiriyah Exploration Area."

In its statement to Shafaq agency, the company also confirmed its involvement in a proposed cross-border pipeline that could give Iraq a westward export route, providing an alternative to Iraq's Gulf export routes.

The governments of Iraq and Syria have each signed a Heads of Agreement with Urbacon Concessions Investments, TIC Infra II and Chevron Business Development EMEA "in connection with a potential cross-border oil pipeline project from Iraq through Syria to the Mediterranean Sea," Chevron said.

The company did not address questions on the financial and technical shape of its pipeline role, whether it views a Mediterranean route as an alternative to exports through the Strait of Hormuz, or how its growing partnership with the federal government in Baghdad sits alongside its dealings with the KRI, according to Shafaq.

(Writing by N Saeed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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