BASRA, Iraq/BAGHDAD: Just weeks ago, U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil looked poised to move ahead with a US$53 billion project to boost Iraq's oil output at its southern fields, a milestone in the company's ambitions to expand in the country.
ExxonMobil declined to comment on the terms of the contract or the negotiations, with a spokeswoman in Texas saying:"As a matter of practice, we don't comment on commercial discussions."The deputy oil minister for upstream affairs, Fayadh Nema, said on Wednesday that talks were ongoing and he expected a deal soon.
Many Iraqi officials say the stalling of talks with Exxon and disruptions to its staffing point to the limits of American power in Iran's smaller neighbor, and that U.S.-Iran tensions have led to a series of security incidents including unclaimed attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf. Mahdi said last month that Iraq was close to signing the US$53 billion, 30-year energy agreement with project leader Exxon and its partner for the deal, PetroChina.
"We told them that we totally reject any production-sharing mechanism as it contradicts government energy policy," said an official who is part of the negotiating team. Tensions reached further heights this week when Iran shot down a U.S. military drone that it said was on a spy mission over its territory, an incident that fanned fears of wider military conflict in the Middle East. Trump said on Thursday that Iran had made"a very big mistake".