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TotalEnergies’ staff return to Iraq after project dispute

Variety

03-02-2023 | 12:36

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TotalEnergies’ staff return to Iraq after project dispute

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Foreign staff at French oil major TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) have returned to Iraq after disputes with Baghdad over a $27 billion cluster of major energy projects prompted their exit, two sources told Reuters on Friday.

The return of TotalEnergies' staff shows that their exit is simply a negotiating tactic, member of the Iraqi parliament Mustafa Jabbar Sanad wrote in a Twitter post on Friday.

Jabbar wrote on Jan. 30 that TotalEnergies had asked its foreign staff to leave Iraq to obstruct negotiations over the energy project.

TotalEnergies declined to comment.

The company and Baghdad are taking further time to hammer out key sticking points in the long-delayed energy deal, signed in 2021 for TotalEnergies to build four oil, gas and renewables projects with an initial investment of $10 billion in southern Iraq over 25 years.

The deal has experienced several setbacks amid disputes between Iraqi politicians over its terms, sources told Reuters early last year.

TotalEnergies had asked its foreign staff to leave the country and local employees to work from home, sources confirmed this week, as it struggles to resolve differences with Baghdad.

Foreign staff have now returned and everything is back to normal, according to two oil ministry sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

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