Doha: Qatar is in talks to acquire a stake from French company TotalEnergies' $27bn cluster of energy projects in Iraq, Reuters yesterday.
Reuters said QatarEnergy is looking to acquire a stake of around 30% in the project, one source said. Energy companies rarely own 100% of projects and prefer partnerships to reduce risk.
After a flurry of deals after the US invasion over a decade ago, international oil companies have been trying to leave Iraq due to poor returns from revenue sharing agreements.
When TotalEnergies and Baghdad in 2021 signed an agreement to build four giant solar, gas, power and water projects in southern Iraq over 25 years, hopes for an exodus reversal were high. Exxon Mobil, Shell and BP have all sought to scale back their operations in Iraq in recent years.
So far no comments for QatarEnergy side regarding this report and officials did not respond to a request for comment about the talks said Reuters.
TotalEnergies did not confirm the deal when contacted by Reuters.
A senior Iraqi oil ministry official said he was not aware of QatarEnergy plans to acquire a stake in the TotalEnergies' project.
QatarEnergy and TotalEnergies have been talking about a stake in the project, and even though no final agreement has been reached yet, there was a lot of confidence it would materialise, two of the sources said.
The French and Qatari energy companies have close partnerships in Qatar's giant liquefied natural gas (LNG) production as well as major energy projects around the world including in Guyana, Namibia and South Africa.
