Western oil companies see 'fantastic' future in Iraq, sign agreements

Zaidi visited Chevron's CVX.N headquarters in Houston on Thursday before Iraqi officials signed agreements with the oil major to advance its potential entry into Iraq's West Qurna 2 and Nassiriya oilfields.

Jake Spiering, a Chevron president of corporate business development, told the Chamber event that his company will be investing in a pipeline to avoid the Strait of Hormuz and create another export route out of Iraq. Such a pipeline could transport Iraqi oil to the west coast of Syria which is on the Mediterranean Sea.

Iraq's exports have been hit hard by the war in part due to the partial closing of the strait through which 20% of the world's oil and gas typically flowed.

In the long term, Spiering said, Iraq's energy potential could make it the Middle East's equivalent of the U.S. energy trading centers known as the Henry Hub natural gas and Cushing oil hubs.