Iraq eyes ending gas flaring by 2027

Iraq expects to end gas flaring at its oil fields by 2027, as OPEC's second biggest producer seeks help from international oil companies to help capture associated gas production, an oil ministry official said.

"I am optimistic in 2026-2027 gas flaring will end," Ali Hammood, general director of the oil ministry's technical directorate said on the sidelines of the IBBC conference in Dubai.

Iraq is implementing various gas capture projects with the help of IOCs to capture associated gas.

Iraq currently flares nearly 45% of its 2.8 bcf/d of gas production, Hammood said.

These projects currently under development should help reduce the associated gas that is being flared, S&P Global Platts reported.

Iraq was the world's second-worst flaring country after Russia in 2020, burning some 17.37 Bcm of gas last year, according to the World Bank. Iraq has been the world's second-worst gas-flaring nation since at least 2016, World Bank figures showed.

The oil ministry is also in negotiations with IOCs to develop non-associated gas from two fields, Akkas and Mansuriyah, Hammood said.