TNT – “Tidbits From TNT” Friday 11-3-2023

CandyKisses:  Iraq extends Russian Lukoil’s contract for more than 20 years

Baghdad – Iraq Today:

The Russian company Lukoil announced on Thursday (November 2, 2023) the signing of a supplementary agreement with Basra Oil on the West Qurna 2 oil field, which included extending the service contract for a period of 10 years until 2045, and pumping investments for further development work and increasing production from the field.

The company’s statement explained that the agreement will lead to a gradual doubling of the field’s capacity to reach 800,2 barrels per day, which will allow to increase the economic efficiency of the West Qurna <> project.

He also noted that the field’s development plan includes the operation of multi-well drilling rigs, the commissioning of oil and gas processing facilities to form the Yamamah and the construction of export pipelines.

CandyKisses:  Middle Eastern summit. The Elysee hosts today the Macron-Nechirvan Barzani meeting

Shafaq News / The Elysee Palace will host a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday afternoon, and Kurdistan Regional President Nechirvan Barzani.

Today’s meeting will be the first of its kind hosted by the Elysée between Macron and a Middle Eastern official and will include a consultation on the accelerating developments underway in Iraq, in light of the repercussions of the war between Israel and Hamas, which raises growing fears of its regional spread, also affecting Iraq.

On Thursday, Barzani arrived in Paris at an official invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron.

In turn, the Presidency of the Kurdistan Region explained in a statement that President Nechirvan Barzani will discuss during his meeting with President Macron at the Elysee Palace French relations with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region and the development of joint cooperation, and the situation in Iraq and the region in general.

It is noteworthy that this is the fourth official visit by Nechirvan Barzani since assuming the presidency of the Kurdistan Regional Government in its previous session, and the presidency of the region in its current session.

The French president was scheduled to visit Iraq to attend the “third Baghdad Conference”, which was scheduled to be held at the end of October, but the postponement of its meeting until further notice prevented this.

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Tishwash:  Macron will visit Iraq at the end of this month

The Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to France, Wadih Batti, revealed that French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Iraq at the end of this November, indicating that this visit will be followed by a visit by the French Minister of Defense as well.

Ambassador Petit said, “We have an expected visit at the end of this month by French President Emmanuel Macron to Iraq, followed by the visit of the French Minister of Defense to Iraq,” indicating that “all these events confirm that we are moving in the right direction by moving Iraqi and French relations to higher levels.”

Wadih Batti explained that “a simple look at what happened during the past 10 months can give us an indication of the great escalation that occurred in Iraqi-French relations in general,” adding that “the visits taking place between the two countries are high-level visits, starting with the visit of the President The ministers went to Paris and signed the strategic partnership treaty, then the visit of the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Masrour Barzani, then the visit of the President of the Supreme Judicial Council, Faiq Zaidan, the visit of Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein, and the Minister of Justice Khaled Shawani, in addition to technical visits by Iraqi delegations to Paris, and 3 weeks ago there were We have an important visit from the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Muhammad al-Halbousi, and today we receive His Excellency President Nechirvan Barzani.”

He pointed out that “this level of visits represented by the three Iraqi presidencies, in addition to the presidency of the Kurdistan Region and its government, indicates the presence of heat and tension in relations, and we have come a long way even in the field of strategic projects, including the project to sign the Total contract, and we have an important contract that will be signed with Thales this week.” Next, in addition to major activities carried out by the French Development Agency in Iraq.”

He noted that “there is cooperation at the educational and university levels, and we signed 6 memorandums in the field of education and even in the field of integrity and drug control, diplomatic training and cooperation to train judges,” pointing out that “all these steps mean that we are trying to give a dose to all aspects of the relationship.”

Regarding Total, the Iraqi ambassador to France stated that “there were discussions, because it is not a small project, but rather includes 4 projects and its value is tens of billions of dollars, so it needs discussions, and there may be technical matters that were overcome in the dispute, and the agreement was signed.”

As for Mosul Airport or other projects, he said, “There is a great opportunity for French companies, and we indicated in the symposium that we held two weeks ago that the door is open and wide, and we encourage them to enter the Iraqi market and rearrange their cards in a way that enables them to compete with other companies that are entering.” Iraqi market.

French President Emmanuel Macron had previously visited Iraq in early September 2020, coming from Lebanon, on an official visit, and at that time Macron was the first head of state to visit Iraq since the formation of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi’s government.

French President Emmanuel Macron also visited Iraq in late August 2021. link