EXCLUSIVE Iraq’s $27 bln Total deal stuck over contract wrangling

EXCLUSIVE Iraq’s $27 bln Total deal stuck over contract wrangling

BASRA/LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – A $27-billion deal between France’s Total and Iraq, that Baghdad hoped would reverse the exit of oil majors from the country, has stalled amid disputes over terms and risks being scrapped by the country’s new government.

Iraq has struggled to attract major fresh investments into its energy industry since signing a flurry of post U.S.-invasion deals over a decade ago. The Iraqi government has cut oil output targets repeatedly as international oil companies that signed those initial deals leave due to poor returns from revenue sharing agreements.

Total agreed last year to invest in four oil, gas and renewables projects in the southern Basra region over 25 years. The deal, signed by Iraq’s oil ministry in September 2021 followed a visit from French President Emmanuel Macron.

The ministry, however, did not have agreement on the deal’s financial details with all the government departments that needed to approve it, three Iraqi oil ministry and industry sources involved or familiar with the negotiations told Reuters, and it has been mired in disputes ever since.

Following a parliamentary election, the deal now needs approval from a new Iraqi cabinet, including new oil and finance ministers, who won’t be in place until at