ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Saturday inaugurated a gas processing plant in the southeastern province of Maysan.
“Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al-Sudani inaugurates an associated gas processing project in Halfaya field, Maysan province, with a capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet per day,” read a statement from his office.
Iraq is one of the world’s largest gas flaring countries, burning off excess gas at oil wells. The practice is a major contributor to greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, causing severe environmental damage and climate change. It also poses a serious risk to the well-being of people living close to flaring sites, from Basra to the Kurdistan Region, where refugee camps are in particularly vulnerable locations.
The World Bank estimates that Iraq flares around 17 billion cubic meters of gas every year, worth around $8 billion annually.
Both the Iraqi and Kurdish governments have said they want to end the practice.
In a speech at the al-Rafidain Forum for Dialogue in Baghdad in March, Sudani said the goal is to completely end gas flaring within three to five years. He also said that “within two months” Iraq will announce self-sufficiency in oil derivatives and save over $3 billion annually on imports. But three months later, Baghdad has yet to announce self-sufficiency.
During Sudani’s trip to the United States in April, Baghdad and Washington signed several agreements on capturing flared gas and turning it into much needed electricity.
Oil is Iraq’s main source of income, relied on to cover government costs and pay civil servant salaries. The country pocketed $97.5 billion from oil sales in 2023, a significant decline from 2022’s record-setting $115 billion.
Last August, Sudani opened the isomerization unit at Baiji refinery, which enhances the value of oil products by changing their molecular shape and raising the octane rating. In late February, he reopened the country’s largest oil refinery in Baiji, northern Salahaddin province, nearly a decade after it was captured by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
