Western energy companies are accelerating their return to Iraq.

Since the beginning of this year, Iraq has seen a wave of Western energy companies returning. In the first half of the year, BP and Total Energy reached new cooperation agreements worth billions of dollars with Iraq; in the second half of the year, ExxonMobil and Shell also made progress in their respective cooperation projects in Iraq. As the second largest oil producer in OPEC, Iraq's oil export revenue accounts for over 90% of its fiscal income, and in recent years it has been working on restarting suspended oil and gas projects. The large number of Western energy companies returning seems to indicate that a new game involving energy security, oil and gas technology, and influence is once again being played out in the Middle East.