Iraq signs 48 deals with US companies during PM’s visit to Washington

The deals include rebuilding the long-defunct Iraq-Syria-crude-oil-pipeline" class="entity-link entity-topic" data-entity-id="167309" data-entity-type="topic">Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, which could bypass the Strait of Hormuz.Iraq has struck dozens of agreements and partnerships with American companies, many in the oil sector, during a visit to the United States by Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi.“A total of 48 agreements, memoranda of understanding, cooperation agreements and partnership declarations were signed between public and private sector entities in Iraq and the United States,” the Iraqi leader’s media office said on Saturday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3US sanctions Iraqi minister accused of aiding Iran oil saleslist 2 of 3Iraqi security forces arrest 47 officials in anticorruption crackdownlist 3 of 3Iraq’s new PM launches anticorruption campaign, but is it enough?end of listThey include “cooperation and partnerships involving the ministries of oil and electricity … with ExxonMobil, KBR, GE Vernova, Shell and Halliburton”, as well as several deals related to the construction of a major crude oil pipeline between Iraq and Syria.Iraq also signed a deal with Starlink, which dominates the global satellite communications sector, to introduce services to the country.The preliminary deals, signed at a US-Iraq business summit at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Friday, come as Baghdad seeks to move away from dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping and oil exports have been heavily disrupted due to the US-Israel war against Iran.Iraq and Syria signed a cooperation agreement to reconstruct the long-defunct Iraq-Syria oil pipeline, which runs from the oil-rich Kirkuk region in northern Iraq to Syria’s Mediterranean port of Baniyas.Iraq’s state news agency reported that major US energy company Chevron would carry out the project under the agreement.The US Department of State said it welcomed Iraq and Syria’s plan to rehabilitate the pipeline, for which a “US-led international consortium” would “execute the technical and financial aspects”.