French energy giant TotalEnergies is seeking a share in a new international consortium planning to build a pipeline to help export Iraqi oil to the Mediterranean, its chief executive Patrick Pouyanne has told The National."Total is in active discussion for a stake in the consortium that is planning to build the Basra-Baniyas pipeline," Mr Pouyanne said on Monday at a ceremony in the French presidential palace in Paris, where France and Iraq signed a series of agreements.Sources said TotalEnergies is seeking a 10 per cent stake in the consortium, which would give it a role in developing the pipeline to provide Iraq with an alternative route for exporting crude.Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Al Zaidi travelled to Paris on Monday before heading to Berlin as Baghdad seeks solutions to its oil export difficulties since the shut-down of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran this year after a joint US-Israeli attack. Alternative routesThe pipeline project, which would allow Iraq to export from its southern oilfields in Basra near the Arabian Gulf to Baniyas on Syria's Mediterranean coast, and Europe and beyond, has been encouraged by the Iraqi government as an alternative export route to the Hormuz Strait. TotalEnergies announced in August that it would join the consortium that includes US oil and gas giant Chevron, Qatari-Syrian company UCC Holding and US investment company TI Capital. Discussions...
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