US oil firms sign deals with Iraq to develop alternative shipping routes

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. companies have signed roughly $60 billion in agreements and partnerships with the Iraqi government, including deals intended to create alternative routes for shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf. It’s not clear when the oil deals signed Friday will be able to create viable alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil flows. Goldman Sachs estimates that pipelines in just one country take at least two and a half years to build, and these pipelines would travel through two or more nations.