Iraq working to make money, not burn it up in gas flares
Iraq is making progress on its project to capture the potentially lucrative gas associated with oil extracted from its southern fields, which it has been burning off for decades.
Iraq plans to expand capacity at its oil refineries while at the same time reducing the amount of gas that is burned off during oil production. Instead of wasting the gas, the country will reap the benefits of putting it to good use.
New Oil Minister Thamer al-Ghadhban announced Oct. 31 that he will pay particular attention to oil-rich Basra in southern Iraq, an area where services have been neglected and people are angry.
Iraq continues to burn off most of the gas associated with oil production in its fields because it lacks sufficient facilities to capture the gas.
Iraq has a plan to stop burning off gas by 2021 and has already started using some of the oil-associated gas. Former Minister of Oil Jabbar al-Luaibi stated Sept. 29 that the country had begun capturing natural gas from oil fields in Dhi Qar. The process is of great importance for Iraq, which has burned off gas for decades, squandering the equivalent of $45 billion each year.
