France’s Total signs mega oil and gas deals with Iraq | Al Jazeera

French energy giant Total signed mega contracts with Iraq worth $27bn to develop oil fields, natural gas and a crucial water project that officials said Monday will be key for the oil-rich country to maintain crude output.

The deals were signed on Sunday with Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in attendance, according to a Ministry of Oil statement.

Total signed contracts with the ministry to develop the Ratawi oil field in southern Iraq, a gas processing hub to capture natural gas from five southern oil fields, and a much-needed project to treat Gulf seawater and inject it into reservoirs to maintain oil production levels.

A fourth project was signed with the Ministry of Electricity to build a 1,000-megawatt solar power plant.

It is the most lucrative and ambitious deal to be signed by an oil giant in Iraq in years and came as other international oil companies have taken steps to exit from Iraq’s oil sector.

There was no immediate statement from Total.