Iraq’s PM is assembling a three-track pitch before his first White House visit

Baghdad has been on an agreements-signing spree with American energy companies. In a single cabinet session on Saturday, Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi’s government approved agreements with Chevron covering West Qurna 2 field (formerly owned by Russia’s Lukoil), mandated a US-Qatari consortium to study two strategic export pipeline routes (a Basra-Ceyhan route through Turkey and a Basra-Baniyas link through Syria), and fast-tracked KBR's consultancy on the Basra-Haditha crude export line. Days earlier, Oil Minister Basim Al Abadi signed a five-year integrated management contract with Halliburton for the Bin Omar and Sinbad fields, targeting a combined 250k bbl / d.

Read together, these moves form Al Zaidi’s pitch deck for Washington. US President Donald Trump is expected to host the Iraqi PM at the White House in mid-July, Al Zaidi’s first foreign trip since taking office. The message Baghdad wants to deliver: Iraq is open for American capital, particularly in the energy sector, and the country is happy to get all the investment it can get into its energy infrastructure to help it bypass Hormuz after the crisis exposed its over-dependence on the chokepoint.

REMEMBER- We reported last month that securing US investment for the Syria-Iraq pipeline — estimated at USD 8 bn — would be at the top of Zaidi’s Washington agenda, with TI Capital named in previous reports as the lead for this possible development. Earlier last week, Washington resumed USD air shipments of Iraqi oil revenues after months of withholding them — another signal the bilateral temperature is warming.

And on the Gulf front, GCC Secretary-General Jassim Al Budaiwi visited Baghdad last week and endorsed Zaidi's reform and anti-corruption agenda, signaling that Gulf capital — which has long demanded stronger investor protections before scaling up in Iraq — could follow if the governance push holds.

IN CONTEXT- Zaidi said recently the Cabinet is planning to launch an energy and development fund seeded by the Central Bank of Iraq and open to subscription from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Western institutions.

Our take: Al Zaidi appears to be laying the groundwork for a multilateral investment push in critical energy infrastructure, putting his eyes on a mix of American and Gulf capital — and the recent anti-corruption drive and warming signs in the relationship with the American government and businesses could generate just the right momentum to get there.