Iraq Company from Italy 2026: Eni's Supply Chain

Italy's position in Iraq has a name and a location. Eni operates the Zubair oil and gas field in the Basra region with a 41.56% stake, alongside South Korea's Kogas at 23.75%, state-owned Basra Oil Company at 29.69% and a further state partner at 5%.

The interesting thing for an Italian supplier is not that Eni is there. It is how Eni buys.

In August 2026, an Egyptian company won Eni's international tender for the supply of electrical equipment at Zubair, worth USD 18.6 million over three years. Eni's drilling programme runs through the Iraqi Drilling Company, working with Schlumberger, on 35 wells. The supply chain around an Italian operator is genuinely international, and being Italian is an advantage of relationship rather than a right of access.

Key facts for Italian founders

Eni's presence opens a door. It does not hold it open. The supply chain is tendered internationally and won on capability and price.

The Zubair programme, and where a supplier fits

Eni also runs community programmes in education, healthcare and the environment, including projects in schools in Basra Governorate and the Al-Zubair District. That matters commercially for a supplier:

• Local content is part of how operators are judged in Iraq, and it shapes what they ask of suppliers.
• Presenting your own local hiring and training plan is worth more than presenting your Italian credentials.
• The community footprint is public, so it is something to reference rather than discover.

Can an Italian resident legally own an Iraqi company?

Yes, up to 49% of a federal LLC, since Law No. 17 of 2019 amended Article 12 of the Companies Law. Full ownership is available in the Kurdistan Region following its January 2022 amendments, and is understood to be available through an investment licence, with that point not fully settled. Routes in foreign ownership in Iraq.

Every foreign shareholder clears a Ministry of Interior security check before being recorded.

The 35% question, which is unavoidable here

1. 1Who the 35% reachesForeign oil companies, their branches and offices, and subcontractors working in oil and gas production and related industries.
2. 2Why that is youSupplying equipment or services into a producing field, installed and serviced on site, is exactly the profile the scope describes.
3. 3What followsEstablish the position with an Iraqi adviser before pricing. Twenty points of rate is not a variance a tender absorbs.

Alongside the rate sits the calculation method. Iraq charges the higher of the statutory rate on actual profit or a deemed percentage of revenue set by contract type, so a supplier on a thin margin can be assessed as though it earned considerably more. The deemed percentages, from 20% for contracting and services up to 75% for licensing, are in Iraq corporate tax.

And two mechanisms hold cash: a contract retention released only against a tax clearance letter, applied in practice at around 3% to 5%, and a 3.3% or 7% withholding on payments to non-upstream industries contracted with oil and gas companies.

The Italian analysis

Article 167 TUIR, the controlled foreign company regime, works on an effective tax comparison, aligned since the 2023 implementing decree on a 15% effective threshold. Iraq's statutory 15% sits exactly on that line rather than safely above it, and the 35% oil and gas rate is clearly above.

Two things follow, and they matter more than the headline:

• An investment licence changes the answer. A project licensed by the National Investment Commission is exempt for up to ten years. An effective rate of zero is inside article 167, not outside it.
• Article 167(5) offers a substance exemption, available where the foreign entity carries on a genuine economic activity with its own staff, equipment, assets and premises. An operating Iraqi entry usually meets that description, but the burden of proof is on the taxpayer, so the evidence is built as you go rather than reconstructed later.

Article 73 is the one that applies. An entity administered from Italy, or whose main object is pursued there, can be treated as Italian resident regardless of where it is registered. For an Iraqi subsidiary of an Italian supplier, esterovestizione is the live risk and it is answered with real premises, real decisions and real minutes in Iraq.

Also worth carrying across from the Italian side: the EUR 300 million Italian facility supporting Italian companies in reconstruction efforts, with financing approved for companies, export contract support and quasi-equity loans. It was built for exactly this kind of entry, and it is a channel to test rather than assume.

The Iraqi side, in short

1. Establish whether you are trading with Iraq or in it.
2. Choose the route: branch against a qualifying contract, LLC at 49%, or a Kurdistan entity.
3. Clear the Ministry of Interior check for every foreign shareholder.
4. Deposit IQD 1,000,000 in an Iraqi bank, verified at registration.
5. Appoint a managing director and a deputy, with a resident manager.
6. Obtain the tax identification number early, because it gates the official currency channel and the release of retained amounts depends on clearance.

Full sequence in how to register a company in Iraq.

When Iraq makes sense from Italy, and when it does not

41.56%Eni's stake in the Zubair field, with Kogas, Basra Oil Company and a further state partner

USD 18.6mthe three year electrical equipment contract awarded in August 2026, won by a non-Italian bidder

35wells in the drilling programme, run through the Iraqi Drilling Company with Schlumberger

Common mistakes from Italy

• Assuming an Italian operator means Italian procurement. An Egyptian company won the last electrical tender at Zubair.
• Pricing at 15% on a production field. The 35% scope reaches subcontractors and related industries.
• Modelling tax from actual margin. The deemed profit percentage is charged if it is higher.
• Administering the Iraqi entity from Italy, which is the esterovestizione risk under article 73.
• Ignoring the Italian reconstruction facility, which was designed for this kind of project.
• Treating tax clearance as year-end paperwork, when it gates the release of retained contract amounts.

What an Italian supplier should settle before quoting:

• Whether the contract falls inside the 35% oil and gas perimeter, which around Zubair is the likely answer rather than the exception.
• What the local content offer is, since that is part of how the operator judges a bid.
• Whether the work needs presence or only supply, because a commissioning obligation on site is what makes the entity necessary.

The bottom line, and how CorpSec helps

The Italian route into Iraq runs through Eni's operatorship at Zubair and the procurement around it, plus a reconstruction facility at home built to support exactly that. The relationship helps. It does not substitute for winning an international tender.

Two things decide whether the entry works commercially: which side of the 35% oil and gas perimeter your contract falls on, and whether the Iraqi entity is genuinely administered in Iraq. Settle the first with an Iraqi adviser and the second with your commercialista, before the tender rather than after.

CorpSec structures Iraqi entries end to end, in federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, alongside your Italian advisers.