Iraq's government has struck dozens of agreements with Western oil companies, including to restore an energy supply route Baghdad could use to export its oil without the Strait of Hormuz.

The preliminary deals, signed at a United States-Iraq business summit at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Friday, come as Baghdad seeks to move away from dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, where transit has been heavily disrupted due to the US-Israel war against Iran.

Iraq and Syria signed a cooperation agreement to reconstruct the long-defunct Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline, which runs from the oil-rich Kirkuk region in northern Iraq to Syria's Mediterranean port of Baniyas.

Iraq's state news agency reported that major US energy company Chevron would carry out the project under the agreement. The US Department of State said it welcomed the plan, which a "US-led international consortium" would "execute the technical and financial aspects" of.

"Upon rehabilitation, this groundbreaking project will have an initial transport capacity of 2 million barrels per day of crude oil," said the State Department, calling the pipeline "a critical energy corridor linking Iraqi oil production to Mediterranean export markets and beyond".

US ambassador to Turkiye Tom Barrack said the agreements would lead to a programme "that will make the Strait of Hormuz an afterthought". Chevron also signed two other agreements with Iraq focused on boosting oil production.

Iraq's government also signed an official agreement with Starlink, owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to operate formally in the country. In total, Iraqi officials' initial agreements with US firms, spanning energy, healthcare and technology, are worth more than $60 billion.

Source: www.aljazeera.com