TotalEnergies Pulls Staff From Iraq: Exit Or Tactics?

3 Feb 2023 Issue: 66 / 5 By: Yesar Al-Maleki

TotalEnergies this week pulled staff from Iraq amid a standoff with Baghdad over its proposed $27bn energy sector megadeal. With the new government appraising the package’s feasibility, can the two sides reach a compromise?

TotalEnergies’ hugely ambitious $27bn planned Iraqi megadeal is facing yet more trouble. Multiple sources confirm to MEES widespread reports that the French giant has decided to pull its staff from Iraq after what appears to be a falling out during new PM Mohammed al-Sudani’s visit to Paris where he and Oil Minister Hayan Abdulghani briefly met Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné.

The stumbling block is Baghdad’s insistence that state owned Basrah Oil Company (BOC) will hold a 40% stake in the oil and gas development portions of the deal. The much-touted megadeal signed in September 2021 (MEES, 10 September 2021) is intended to pioneer Mr Pouyanné’s “black and green” corporate strategy of combining traditional hydrocarbon development, namely increasing oil capacity at the Ratawi oil field to 210,000 b/d and processing 600mn cfd of gas, with clean-energy by building a 1GW solar plant. The projects require around $9bn in initial capex. (CONTINUED - 1227 WORDS)