TotalEnergies, the French energy conglomerate has signed a deal worth approximately $27bn. As part of this deal Total will invest in the oil gas and Solar energy sector in Iraq.
The deal has been made in order to decrease the reliance of Iraq on fossil fuels. Iraqi minister Ihsan Ismail signed the contract at a ceremony with TotalEnergies chief Patrick Pouyanne in Baghdad.
Iraq has huge reserves of oils present in the country and is the 2nd largest producer of oil in OPEC. Still the country is highly dependent on neighbouring Iran, which supplies it with a third of its gas and electricity needs due to which Baghdad currently owes Tehran six billion dollars for energy already supplied.
This deal will cover investments in four projects. One of the projects aims to pipe seawater from the Gulf to southern Iraqi oilfields which will be used to extract oil from subterranean deposits. Two projects focus on extracting and exploiting gas in southern Iraq, which is rich in fossil fuel deposits while the fourth project will see the installation of a solar farm in Artawi, near the southern port of Basra. The solar plant will be designed to produce “1,000 megawatts” of electricity, the equivalent of the energy produced by a nuclear reactor.
