BAGHDAD — Kuwait will begin importing natural gas from neighboring Iraq this year, a development welcomed in Baghdad as it could improve Iraq's relations with the Gulf countries — relations that ruptured when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Most of Iraq’s gas is associated petroleum gas, also known as flare gas. Associated petroleum gas is a byproduct of oil production, as opposed to natural gas that comes directly from gas reservoirs in the ground. The Iraqi Ministry of Oil has decided to export associated petroleum gas from international oil companies operating in southern Iraq to Kuwait via a gas pipeline near Basra. Kuwait would then turn it into dry gas, condensates and liquid gas, among other types. According to the Ministry of Oil, Iraq flares 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas daily.

Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad told Al-Monitor, “Iraq will export to Kuwait the associated gas, part of which is flared on a daily basis. Processing natural gas is a complex and expensive industrial process that requires building plants through local and foreign companies.”

Jihad said, “Iraq is set to supply Kuwait with 50 million cubic feet of gas daily, which will gradually increase to 200 million cubic feet [depending on] international prices. The gas will be exported through the three-decade-old pipeline linking the two countries. The pipeline, however, needs maintenance. Iraq will take care of maintenance over the 30 kilometers [19 miles] of pipeline stretching within its territory, while Kuwait will handle its part of the pipeline.”