American energy companies Chevron, Honeywell, General Electric and others have entered into oil-related agreements with the Iraqi authorities for a total of eight billion dollars. This was reported by the us Department of energy.
The former has been granted exclusive rights to explore, develop and produce oil in the province of Di-Kar. Honeywell plans to start gas production in the Ar-Ratawi field, which will allow Iraq to use ” local gas resources to meet domestic energy demand.”
In addition, General Electric got contracts for the electrification of Iraq. These deals are key to Iraq’s energy future, said US energy Secretary Dan Brouillette.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia and Russia criticized Iraq for failing to reduce oil production, which, in their view, threatens the OPEC + deal. However, the level of poverty in the country is growing, and a reduction in oil production may undermine the fragile peace in the region, experts say.
Crude oil sales account for more than 90 percent of Iraq’s government revenue. The world Bank predicts that the country’s economy will fall by 10 percent this year.
