Iraq seeks to process 100% of extracted gas in 4 years
An employee turns a valve at the Nahr Bin Omar natural gas field, north of the southern Iraqi port of Basra. Photo: AFP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq seeks to increase its natural gas processing capacity to 100 percent within four years, despite a lack of sufficient infrastructure.
While Iraq extracts 3.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, it processes no more than 1.8 billion cubic feet per day. This indicates that the extracted and processed gases differ by more than one billion cubic feet.
As a result, Iraq is burning unprocessed gas to get rid of it while also expanding its production facilities to reach self-sufficiency, according to a statement issued on Saturday by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, inaugurated new energy projects in the southern Iraqi governorates of Basra and Maysan as part of a government plan aiming to stop gas flaring by 2028, when the country will be able to process all the extracted gas and turn it into fuel for local consumption or export.
Iraq, the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), spends $4 billion annually to import natural gas and electricity from neighboring Iran.