Turkmenistan agreed on Thursday to export gas to Iraq, a move that could boost the Iraqi energy sector and lessen the country’s dependence on Iran.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry’s undersecretary for gas affairs, Ezzat Saber, said Iraq reached a preliminary agreement on importing gas following a meeting with officials in the Central Asian country, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.
The exact amount has not been specified, and the two countries aim to sign a memorandum before the end of the year, according to the agency.
Why it matters: Iraq is one of the biggest oil producers in the world, and the second biggest in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) after Saudi Arabia. Iraq’s natural gas sector, on the other hand, is relatively underdeveloped. Iraq’s natural gas reserves were the 12th largest in the world at the end of 2020. However, Iraq lacks the infrastructure to move the gas from oil production areas, which is where most of the gas reserves are located. As a result, Iraq flares its natural gas, according to the US International Trade Association. Gas flaring is the process by which gas associated with oil extraction is burned off.
