ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met Chevron executives Thursday at the company’s Texas headquarters, as his cabinet seeks an increase of US investment in the country.
Zaidi held a meeting with the company's president, Mark Nelson, and its board of directors, announced the premier’s media office.
The media office also reported that Zaidi “called on the company to expand and accelerate its operations in Iraq to achieve a strategic goal adopted by the government, which is to increase crude oil production, expand Iraq's capabilities in the field of refining and processing products, and enable the oil sector to diversify its export outlets.”
The announcement comes amid Zaidi's arrival in Washington on Monday for a weeklong visit where he met with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. The visit is to focus on new ways to strengthen bilateral ties, which include opportunities for renewed American investment in Iraq's energy, electricity, and infrastructure sectors.
Zaidi said the government is ready to provide the necessary approvals and infrastructure for oil refining and chemical industry complexes, according to the media office. He also emphasized increasing gas production and bringing advanced technology to Iraq.
The prime minister reiterated his commitment to improving the investment environment for international companies to create jobs and strengthen the economy.
“For his part, Mr. Nelson indicated Chevron's desire to invest in Iraq's southern oilfields, projects for laying transport pipelines to regional ports, and their storage facilities, as well as intensifying efforts to shorten implementation timelines,” Zaidi’s office noted.
"Iraq has tremendous potential because of their oil and because of other things," Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office during his meeting with Zaidi.
Trump said US relations with Iraq "went from not so good to outstanding," noting that a "tremendous oil partnership" is unfolding. He said a "massive" deal "among the largest" between the two nations would be announced "this week or next week."
Iraq has signed a contract with Texas-based HKN Energy to develop an oil field in the central Salahaddin province, the country’s oil ministry reported last week, days after Baghdad struck another agreement with American oil giant Halliburton for the development of two oilfields in southern Iraq.
