Iraq has much to gain from gas-supply pact with Kuwait
A deal to export gas to Kuwait could help Iraq pay off war reparations, take advantage of otherwise wasted flare gas and make inroads with other Gulf countries.
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.
