Exxon’s $53b Iraq deal hit by contract snags, Iran tensions

BASRA (Iraq), June 23 (Reuters): Just weeks ago, US energy giant ExxonMobil looked poised to move ahead with a $53 billion project to boost Iraq's oil output at its southern fields, a milestone in the company's ambitions to expand in the country.

But now a combination of contractual wrangling and security concerns, heightened by escalating tensions between Iraq's bigger neighbour Iran and the United States, has conspired to hold back a deal, according to Iraqi government officials.