Iraq plans to reduce gas flaring to 20% next year
Iraq plans to reduce gas flaring to 20% next year
2024-12-26 03:16
Shafaq News/ Iraq, the second largest oil producer in OPEC, intends to reduce the amount of gas it burns without economic benefit to about 20% during the next year, in an effort to meet the rising demand and reduce imports.
Bloomberg quoted the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Oil for Gas Affairs, Ezzat Saber Ismail, as saying that “the state used about 67% of the gas extracted from oil fields by the end of 2024, and that new projects in the south of the country, including the Total project, will help raise that level, and the state intends to stop burning gas completely by the end of 2029 or early next year.”
The Middle Eastern country, along with Russia, Iran and the United States, is one of the world’s largest gas flaring nations, a process that wastes fuel instead of extracting it and using it in sectors such as power generation.
Iraq was forced to resort to importing gas from neighboring Iran, a process that requires obtaining periodic exemptions from sanctions from Washington, and the current exemption expires next June, according to Ismail.
The Iraqi Ministry of Oil, Siemens Energy and Schlumberger signed a memorandum of understanding to invest in treating and stopping the burning of gas from oil fields.
Gas flaring has been a concern around the world for years, as the lack of infrastructure to transport the fuel has forced companies to burn off excess. While this is an environmental hazard, it is less severe than the alternative process called “venting,” in which methane emissions are released directly into the air.
Ismail also pointed out that “Iraq reduced gas flaring from 47% in 2021 to about 33% this year.”
Data from the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Tracker report, released earlier this year, showed that the amount of gas flared remained largely stable over the five years ending in 2023.
Iraq has failed to achieve its previous goals, which were to completely stop gas flaring by 2023.
By the end of next year, Iraq plans to add projects that will consume 290 billion cubic feet per day of gas extracted from oil fields in the south of the country, including the Total project consuming 50 million cubic feet from the Artawi field, which will rise to 300 million cubic feet by 2027, according to Ismail.
The Undersecretary added: “With regard to the Artawi project alone, the volume of investments will amount to about two billion dollars, and the integrated gas complex, which we describe as an accelerated investment, will be ready for operation by the end of next year.”
In addition, Iraq plans to build a liquefied natural gas import terminal at the southern port of Faw to meet fuel demand, and in January the country will send invitations, mostly to American companies, to compete to build the project, which will have a storage capacity of 300,000 cubic meters.
Ismail concluded that the country currently produces 3.122 billion cubic feet of gas per day, 1.048 billion cubic feet of which were flared on December 22.
shafaq.com
