Iraq is set for a $2bn boost from a Chinese oil company paying upfront for a year’s supply of the fuel, Iraq’s state-owned oil marketer said this weekend.
Opec’s second-biggest exporter is desperate for funds after the pandemic-related global oil-price crash halved oil revenues, which the Iraqi state relies on, last year. Baghdad depends on oil for more than 90 per cent of its income. This is the first time it has offered a prepayment deal for crude.
Alaa al-Yasiri, general manager of Iraqi state-owned oil marketer Somo, said on Saturday that Iraq had “got $2bn at zero interest with a premium over the price” through the contract, adding that “there was intense competition between two European and Chinese companies, and the Chinese company won”.