Washington's Long Term Strategy In The Middle East Under Biden -- January 31, 2023

It's all about choosing the right horse, and again, the US is about to choose the right horse. Link here.  

A must-read article from Simon Watkins: here's why Qatar is about to make a big move on Iraqi oil and gas. 

Qatar’s move to buy a 30 percent stake in four US$27 billion projects in Iraq that were set to be managed entirely by France’s TotalEnergies are in line with the U.S.’s new strategy for Baghdad.

The four projects are essential to Iraq’s future as a truly independent country.

• the first project, the completion of the Common Seawater Supply Project (CSSP), which remains crucial in enabling Iraq to reach crude oil production targets of 7 million barrels per day (bpd), then 9 million bpd and perhaps even 12 million bpd, 
• the second of the projects is to collect and refine at a major processing plant the associated (with oil drilling) gas that is currently burned off at the five southern Iraq oilfields of West Qurna 2, Majnoon, Tuba, Luhais, and Artawi. Initial comments from Iraq’s Ministry of Oil highlighted that the plant is expected to produce 300 million cubic feet of gas per day (mcf/d) and double that after a second phase of development.   
• the third part of TotalEnergies’ four-pronged US$27 billion deal is aimed at boosting crude oil output from Iraq’s Artawi oil field to 210,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil, up from the current circa-85,000 bpd. This project could lead TotalEnergies (and eventually) others to engage in similar crude oil production boosting projects across the country.  
•  the last of the four projects to be undertaken by the French company will be the construction and operation of a 1,000-megawatt solar energy plant. 

Link here.