Iraq Plans to Slash Gas Flaring
Iraq plans to cut gas flaring next year and eliminate the practice of burning off associated gas at oilfields by the end of 2027, government officials have said.
As of the end of 2024, Iraq, which is OPEC’s second biggest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, is capturing around 67% of the gas at its oilfields, Ezzet Saber Ismael, Iraq’s deputy minister for gas affairs told Bloomberg in an interview published on Thursday.
Earlier this week, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed S. Al-Sudani chaired an energy policy meeting, at which officials discussed ongoing natural gas projects, the office of the Iraqi PM said.
“Current progress includes a significant reduction in gas flaring levels, reaching 67%, with projections to achieve 80% by the end of next year and complete elimination of flaring by the end of 2027,” the office of the prime minister said in a statement.
Iraq is one of the top ten countries in the world in terms of gas flaring, alongside Russia, Iran, Algeria, Venezuela, the U.S., Mexico, Libya, and Nigeria, according to estimates from the Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report by the World Bank.
