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Iraq
Iraq’s flaring finally
burning out? A recent surge of government and private initiatives to increase gas production could see Iraq finally tackle its continued issues with flaring. Robert Daniels reports.
Image Credit : Adobe Stock
Flaring releases millions of tonnes of GHGs into the atmosphere each year.
COUNTRY ENDOWED with reserves of around 145bn bbl of oil and 3,714bn cu m of natural gas (according to OPEC data) should be positioned as a dominant economic force in the Middle East capable of using its oil wealth not only as the foundation of its economy but even, as many other countries in the region have done, to expand into other energy markets. But for Iraq, years of political disruption has left its energy sector flagging far behind neighbouring polities with Iraqi citizens still frequently experiencing power shortages despite the abundance of their natural resources. No single issue more readily demonstrates this inadequacy than flaring.
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oilreview.me
Issue 2 2021
Once an industry norm, the flaring of natural gas produced by oil extraction is now subject to strict regulation as the fight against climate change has gained momentum. The process annually releases millions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere alongside methane emissions and other greenhouse gases (GHG) such as nitrogen oxide. Additionally, with the
Years of political disruption has left the country’s energy sector flagging.”
advance of new technology, it represents an enormous commercial waste with Iraq spending billions to import natural gas from Iran to support its energy demand (it was given special consideration to continue doing this despite the Iranian trade embargo). In 2018 the IEA reported Iraq in the top four countries in the world for flaring (alongside Iran, Russia and Algeria) and, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the country burns off through flaring an estimated U$S2.5bn per year - an agonising statistic for a country relying on its neighbours for its gas. Restricted by years of disruption the state has not been able to implement the gas infrastructure needed to reduce flaring and fully take advantage of this
