Chevron moves ahead on southern Iraq oil deals, exits KRI
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Chevron is pressing forward on two of southern Iraq's major oil projects and has joined a proposed pipeline that would carry Iraqi crude across Syria to the Mediterranean, the US energy major told Shafaq News, while declining to discuss the strategy behind its shifting presence in the country.
Taken together, the moves amount to a significant shift in Chevron's Iraq footprint from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) toward federal Iraq. Chevron withdrew entirely from the KRI in 2025, telling the US Securities and Exchange Commission in its annual filing that it had "completed exit agreements." The retreat ended a presence dating to 2012 and centered on the Sarta and Qara Dagh blocks; a settlement and relinquishment agreement covering Sarta was signed with the Kurdistan Regional Government and partner Genel Energy in April 2025, according to Genel's financial disclosures. Sarta had underperformed for years, and the prolonged shutdown of the KRI's export pipeline further weakened its near-term commercial prospects.
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The company's attention has turned to the south. On West Qurna (Phase 2), one of the largest oilfields in Iraq's southern Basra province, Chevron said it had built on agreements first signed in February 2026. Chevron Exploration Services, Inc. and the state-run Basra Oil Company "have signed an agreement which advances commercial negotiations in respect of West Qurna (Phase 2)," the company noted, adding that it "looks forward to sharing its expertise in successfully developing oil and gas projects to support Iraq in further developing its energy resources."
A parallel step came at Nasiriyah, a field in the southern province of Dhi Qar. Chevron Business Development EMEA Ltd. and the Dhi Qar Oil Company (TOC) signed an addendum to a Heads of Agreement dated August 19, 2025, a move Chevron indicated "advances commercial negotiations in respect of the Nasiriyah Field and surrounding Nasiriyah Exploration Area."
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The company also confirmed its involvement in a proposed cross-border pipeline that could give Iraq a westward export route, providing an alternative to Iraq's Gulf export routes. The governments of Iraq and Syria have each signed a Heads of Agreement with Urbacon Concessions Investments WLL, TIC Infra II LLC and Chevron Business Development EMEA Ltd. "in connection with a potential cross-border oil pipeline project from Iraq through Syria to the Mediterranean Sea," Chevron said.
On each project, the company drew the same line: "Beyond this, it is not our policy to comment on specific details related to commercial matters."
Chevron did not address questions on the financial and technical shape of its pipeline role, whether it views a Mediterranean route as an alternative to exports through the Strait of Hormuz, or how its growing partnership with the federal government in Baghdad sits alongside its dealings with the KRI.
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