TotalEnergies, Iraq Agree on Delayed $10 Bn Project

An Iraqi man herds his cows on the Shatt al-Arab river next to the Nahr Bin Omar oil field and facility near Iraq's southern port city of Basr on April 4, 2023. (AFP)
An Iraqi man herds his cows on the Shatt al-Arab river next to the Nahr Bin Omar oil field and facility near Iraq's southern port city of Basr on April 4, 2023. (AFP)
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TotalEnergies, Iraq Agree on Delayed $10 Bn Project

An Iraqi man herds his cows on the Shatt al-Arab river next to the Nahr Bin Omar oil field and facility near Iraq's southern port city of Basr on April 4, 2023. (AFP)
An Iraqi man herds his cows on the Shatt al-Arab river next to the Nahr Bin Omar oil field and facility near Iraq's southern port city of Basr on April 4, 2023. (AFP)

French energy giant TotalEnergies announced Wednesday an agreement with Iraq on a long-delayed $10 billion project to improve the country's rundown electricity grid after resolving disputes over the terms of the deal.

The contract -- which includes investments in oil, gas and solar production -- was signed in September 2021 but a new government took office in Iraq last year and its demands did not please TotalEnergies.

Baghdad sought a 40-percent stake in the Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP), but Iraqi officials said in February that TotalEnergies wanted Iraq to have a smaller stake.

Iraq's cabinet said in a statement late Tuesday that it had accepted to reduce its demands to 30 percent "due to the importance of resolving the issue".

TotalEnergies confirmed Wednesday that Iraq's Basra Oil Company will get the 30-percent stake while a Qatari firm -- QatarEnergy -- will get 25 percent and the French firm will own 45 percent.

"TotalEnergies welcomes the continuity of the voice of the State of Iraq on this Development & Production Contract, which is a strong and positive signal for foreign investment in the country," the company said.

The agreement follows four rounds of talks in recent months between TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the company said.

Pouyanne was in Baghdad this past weekend at Sudani's invitation, TotalEnergies said.

Sudani had travelled to Paris in January for energy and security talks with President Emmanuel Macron.

Pouyanne had warned last month that he "will not embark the company in such a project if, in fact, we have to renegotiate all the terms".

He said Iraq was "not the easiest place to invest" in and TotalEnergies are aware of the risks of doing business there, but respecting the terms of the contract was "fundamental" to him.

Biggest Western investment

Despite being home to a wealth of hydrocarbon reserves, Iraq's neglected electricity grid is dilapidated and a victim of the country's rampant corruption, with power cuts lasting for hours.

Neighboring Iran currently supplies a third of Iraq's gas and electricity, and Baghdad is seeking greater energy independence.

The $10 billion Gas Growth Integrated Project includes recovering flared gas from oil fields to power electricity-generation plants.

A one-gigawatt solar power plant will be built to supply electricity to the Basra regional grid, with Saudi firm ACWA Power joining the project, TotalEnergies said.

The GGIP also includes the construction of a seawater treatment plant to provide water used in oil production -- an alternative to using fresh water from rivers and aquifers, the French firm said.

When the deal was signed in 2021, Iraqi officials said it would lead to a second round of investments of $17 billion, making it the largest investment by a Western company in the country.



EU Begins Easing Syria Energy, Transport and Banking Sanctions

Syrian children play in the heavily damaged Baba Amr neighborhood following the return of their families to the central Syrian city of Homs on February 10, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
Syrian children play in the heavily damaged Baba Amr neighborhood following the return of their families to the central Syrian city of Homs on February 10, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
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EU Begins Easing Syria Energy, Transport and Banking Sanctions

Syrian children play in the heavily damaged Baba Amr neighborhood following the return of their families to the central Syrian city of Homs on February 10, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)
Syrian children play in the heavily damaged Baba Amr neighborhood following the return of their families to the central Syrian city of Homs on February 10, 2025. (Photo by LOUAI BESHARA / AFP)

The European Union on Monday began easing energy and transport sanctions and banking restrictions against Syria, aiming to help breathe life into the conflict-torn country’s economy if its new leaders work toward a peaceful future.
The EU started to impose asset freezes and travel bans on Syrian officials, banks, agencies and other organizations in 2011, in response to then-President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on protesters, which festered into a civil war.
But after Assad was toppled in a lightning opposition offensive in December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now in control of Syria, set up an interim administration, saying that a new government would be formed through an inclusive process by March.
Eager to encourage the new leadership, the EU said it was suspending measures targeting oil, gas and electricity as well as transport, and notably the aviation sector. The possibility to fund and provide certain economic resources to five banks will be reinstated.
Restrictions on the export of luxury goods to Syria for personal use will also be eased, The Associated Press reported.
The decision to lift the sanctions was taken by EU foreign ministers and was made as part of efforts “to support an inclusive political transition in Syria, and its swift economic recovery, reconstruction, and stabilization,” a statement said.
The EU said that it would monitor developments in Syria to see whether other economic sanctions could be lifted, but it has also kept open the possibility of slapping the sanctions back on should the new leaders take the country in the wrong direction.
In January, former HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa was named Syria’s interim president after a meeting of most of the country’s former opposition factions. The groups agreed to dissolve the country’s constitution, the former national army, security service and official political parties.
International pressure has mounted for al-Sharaa to follow through on promises of an inclusive political transition. UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen has said the formation of a “new inclusive government” by March 1 could help determine whether Western sanctions are lifted.