U.S. companies and the Iraqi government signed roughly $60 billion in agreements and partnerships on the date of 2026-07-17, with some of the deals aimed at developing alternatives for moving oil out of the Persian Gulf.
The signings took place at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington during the U.S.-Iraq Business Summit, according to AP News. The package covered energy and other sectors, including healthcare, communications and infrastructure. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falah al-Zaidi addressed the summit and said Iraq was seeking long-term investment and partnerships rather than only contractors for individual projects.
The oil agreements were framed against concern over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which about a fifth of global oil supplies flow. AP reported that Iran had repeatedly sought to close the strait since the U.S.-Iran war began on Feb. 28, contributing to large swings in energy prices. On the afternoon of the signings, West Texas crude was nearly 5% higher at $88 a barrel, compared with about $67 before the war began. The benchmark had exceeded $110 in early April before declining after a truce, then rising again with renewed conflict.
The timetable for creating practical alternatives to Hormuz remained uncertain. AP cited Goldman Sachs as estimating that pipelines in a single country take at least two and a half years to build, while the projects discussed would cross two or more countries. Goldman analysts also estimated earlier that seven pipeline projects under development in the region could, by the end of 2028, move about 60% of the oil then being shipped through Hormuz, or roughly 14 million barrels per day. Before the war, about 23 million barrels per day moved through the strait.
Chevron signed three agreements with Iraq. Jake Spiering, Chevron’s president of corporate business development, said two were focused on increasing oil production, while the third concerned investment in a pipeline intended to create another Iraqi export route to world markets. The signings followed a meeting a day earlier in Houston between al-Zaidi and Chevron executives, where the Iraqi leader urged the company to expand and accelerate investment in Iraq.
The U.S. State Department also welcomed an Iraq-Syria agreement to advance rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Iraq-Syria crude oil pipeline as a priority infrastructure project. The department said it supported the role of a U.S.-led international consortium in handling technical and financial work.
Iraqi officials have said the pipeline would link Basra in southern Iraq with Haditha in western Iraq, then continue toward Turkey’s Ceyhan port and Syria’s Baniyas port. The planned system is projected to carry about 2 million barrels of oil per day.
The war has complicated Iraq’s position because the country hosts both U.S. bases and Iran-backed militias. AP reported that some Iraqi oil has been trucked into Syria and shipped onward to European markets through Baniyas, bypassing Hormuz, though that overland route is less efficient and more costly than the strait. A northern Iraq-Syria border crossing reopened in April after more than a decade, with officials presenting it as another potential export path.
