China’s Iraq influence keeps growing

Chinese companies have strengthened their already healthy position in the Iraqi oil and gas sector as other IOCs back off

China continues to solidify its already strong position in Iraq, with Beijing-backed firms increasing their influence throughout the upstream and midstream sectors. Most recently, the director general of Baghdad’s state oil marketer, Somo, confirmed in early January that a Chinese firm had outbid a compatriot and two European firms in a five-year term crude supply tender that includes a $2bn pre-payment for the first year’s crude volume. While Alaa al-Yasiri stopped short of naming the winner of the December bidding process, China Zhenhua Oil Co. is widely understood to have been chosen for a guaranteed supply of 48mn bl/yr of crude running through to December 2025. Zhenhua is already involv