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

Also in this section
24 June 2025
The country’s latest licensing round attracted bids from IOCs and NOCs in a better showing than its last outreach to bidders
24 June 2025
Africa’s second-largest oil producer is creating the right conditions for the sector to try to boost output, explains Ian Cloke, COO of UK-based Afentra
24 June 2025
The takeover, if it gets the all-clear from regulators and other government authorities, would propel XRG and its parent firm ADNOC into the top tier of global LNG players
23 June 2025
Jet fuel will play crucial role in oil consumption growth even with efficiency gains and environmental curbs, with geopolitical risks highlighting importance of plentiful stocks