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Chevron Took The Lead In Iraq — But The REAL Story Is Negotiation Leverage!

Chevron just slid into the driver’s seat for one of Iraq’s crown-jewel oil assets. The company signed preliminary agreements with state-owned Basra Oil to enter exclusive talks over taking over Lukoil’s stake in the West Qurna 2 field, a roughly 480,000-barrel-a-day giant. Iraq’s cabinet said Chevron gets 12 months of exclusivity, which is basically a “one-at-a-time” lane for negotiations. But it isn’t a done deal. The process hinges on approvals from U.S. Treasury and the Iraqi government, which turns this into a policy-heavy transaction, not just a corporate one. The backdrop matters, too. Lukoil has been under U.S. sanctions, and Washington has signaled it prefers U.S. buyers for Russian overseas assets. Zooming out, this looks like Chevron leaning harder into the Middle East as it works to rebuild reserves and keep production growth alive into the next decade.