“The rate of gas utilization has reached over 65%, while the quantities currently being flared and not yet utilized do not exceed 35% of the total gas quantities,” Oil Minister Hayyan Abdul Ghani told Iraqi state media (INA).
Ghani said some fields produce large quantities of gas, adding that the produced amount is utilized in the national electricity grid, which supplies various power stations.
In May, Iraq announced a supplementary round for the fifth and sixth rounds of licensing gas projects for investing in Natural gas. Ghani said the process is going smoothly, and the ministry expects each field to produce an estimated “700 to 750 thousand barrels per day, in addition to utilizing 850 million cubic meters of gas per day.”
Iraq is one of the world’s largest gas-flaring countries, primarily burning off excess gas at oil wells. The practice is a major contributor to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing severe environmental harm and posing a serious risk to the well-being of people living close to flaring sites, from Basra to the Kurdistan Region, where refugee camps are particularly vulnerable.
Both the Iraqi and Kurdistan Region governments have said they want to end the practice.
The oil minister noted that Baghdad intends to end gas flaring by 2028.
“The Ministry of Oil plans to stop gas flaring completely by the beginning of 2028, with all produced gas being utilized for electricity generation and other industries,” Ghani said.
Iraq was among the top gas-flaring countries globally last year, according to a June report by the World Bank, which also pointed to the country’s increase in flaring intensity.
According to the report, Iraq is accompanied by Russia, Iran, the US, Venezuela, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, and Mexico as the countries flaring the most in 2023.
“Together, these nine countries are responsible for 75 percent of global gas flaring, but just 46 percent of global oil production,” the report stated.
The World Bank called on the countries to “rapidly accelerate flaring reduction progress” and kick-start investment plans to speed the process.
During Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-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. Its revenues cover government costs and pay civil servants' salaries. The country pocketed $97.5 billion from oil sales in 2023, a significant decline from 2022’s record-setting $115 billion.
