2026-08-19T08:30:36+00:00
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Shafaq News- Baghdad
Chevron is pressing forward on 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 told Shafaq News, while declining to
discuss the strategy behind its shifting presence in the country.
Taken together, the moves amount to a significant shift in Chevron’s
Iraq footprint from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) toward federal Iraq.
Chevron withdrew entirely from the KRI in 2025, telling the US Securities and
Exchange Commission in its annual filing that it had “completed exit
agreements.” The retreat ended a presence dating to 2012 and centered on
the Sarta and Qara Dagh blocks; a settlement and relinquishment agreement
covering Sarta was signed with the Kurdistan Regional Government and partner
Genel Energy in April 2025, according to Genel’s financial disclosures. Sarta
had underperformed for years, and the prolonged shutdown of the KRI’s export
pipeline further weakened its near-term commercial prospects.
Read more: Energy war nears Iraq: Oil infrastructure faces rising threat
The company’s attention has turned to the south. 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, Inc. 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.”
Read more: Iraq’s rentier economy: Risks and reforms
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 WLL, TIC Infra II LLC
and Chevron Business Development EMEA Ltd. “in connection with a potential
cross-border oil pipeline project from Iraq through Syria to the Mediterranean
Sea,” Chevron said.
On each project, the company drew the same line: “Beyond this, it
is not our policy to comment on specific details related to commercial
matters.”
Chevron 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.
Read more: SCOOP: Iraq in talks with US-Iran over Hormuz oil shipments