Oil Minister Jabbar al-Allaibi said that Iraq will stop completely burning the gas associated with oil extraction operations before the end of 2019, and stressed that the investment of gas will feed the Iraqi economy billions of dollars.
Al-Allaibi said in an interview with a number of media that the oil industry in Iraq has reached advanced stages, especially gas projects, where we have achieved good results, “noting that” by the end of this year, the proportion of gas investment will reach the threshold of 60% of the total amount burned ” .
“In 2019, and probably at the end of it, there will be no amount of gas burning, as we will invest gas to achieve additional resources,” he said, adding that “gas investment projects can feed the Iraqi economy billions of dollars, and we are serious In doing so, the exploitation of associated gas is our priority. ”
The minister pointed out that “the ministry is working in parallel to invest gas and increase oil production,” explaining that “by the end of this year, Iraq’s production of crude oil will reach five million barrels per day.”
According to preliminary estimates of the Ministry of Oil that Iraq has a reserve estimated at 132 trillion cubic feet of gas, and since about 70% of Iraqi gas is a gas associated with the extraction of oil, nearly 700 million cubic feet of it was burning and wasted because of the lack of infrastructure to address. Iraq ranks 11th among the world’s richest natural gas countries after Russia, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, America, Nigeria, Venezuela and Algeria.