New Delhi, July 18 -- WASHINGTON - Chevron Corp. (CVX) will rebuild the pipeline connecting Iraq's Kirkuk oil fields to Syria's Mediterranean port at Baniyas, the two governments announced at a Washington business summit Thursday, adding the construction agreement to preliminary deals totaling more than $60 billion that Iraq signed with Western companies across energy, technology, and healthcare.

The pipeline project carries strategic weight that extends beyond its commercial scope. For the past several weeks, the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world's oil passes daily, has been a combat zone. Traffic through the channel fell to a three-week low this week as US airstrikes severed road and rail bridges connectin...