Burning gas in Iraq...environmental problems and billions in waste

[size=52]Burning gas in Iraq...environmental problems and billions in waste[/size]

[size=45]Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani confirmed that the wrong path in wasting burned gas will stop within 2-3 years after the completion of the gas projects that began with Total and the Emirati and Chinese companies in the fifth round. The government announced that there are 11 exploratory fields and plots in the governorates of Anbar, Nineveh, and Najaf, which include natural gas that will be invested for the first time in the history of Iraq.[/size]
[size=45]waste[/size]
[size=45]Although Iraq is one of the most prominent oil-producing countries in the Middle East, it suffers from a chronic gas shortage, of which it imports large quantities from neighboring Iran, while the accompanying gas is burned to extract the oil from which it can be used.[/size]
[size=45]The government recently gave the green light to begin developing several oil and gas fields, which is expected to contribute to covering a large portion of domestic demand and achieving the greatest benefit from selling production abroad.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq aspired to produce more oil and gas, but achieving this dream on the ground will remain far away if officials do not accelerate implementation and without delay.[/size]
[size=45]Losses[/size]
[size=45]Economic experts indicated that the annual loss from burning gas in Iraq amounts to $1.2 billion, while some officials issued inaccurate numbers about that.[/size]
[size=45]One official stated that the cost of importing gas from Iran amounts to $6 billion annually, but the real cost of importing Iranian gas in 2022 amounted to $2 billion and is included in the Iraqi balance of payments for the year 2022, while this cost in the 2023 budget amounted to less than $3 billion.[/size]
[size=45]Heavy legacy[/size]
[size=45]Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said in a statement to (Al Mada), “The issue of gas in Iraq before 2003 has left us with a heavy legacy, because the gas was cut off in general and was exposed to abnormal conditions before 2003 after there were ambitious projects in the seventies, but the Gulf War The first affected that, and thus these projects were aborted.” Noting that “investing in gas, whether associated gas or gas located underground, requires technology and large investments.”[/size]
[size=45]Jihad added, “Investments need a safe environment, political, security and economic stability, and laws and legislation that guarantee foreign investments. The Ministry of Oil succeeded in 2010 in forming the Basra Gas Company in cooperation with Shell and Misubishi and developed an investment plan of the order of two thousand million standard cubic meters per day from 3 to 4 fields in Basra, and it was an important step in this context, and today the company has arrived despite the challenges and has exceeded its program by more than 50% and its production is around a thousand million standard cubic meters per day, and it is continuing in this context, as it opened a short time ago a station to add 200 million standard cubic meters in today".[/size]
[size=45]Jihad continues, “As for other projects, there is a program to invest in free gas or gas in the ground, and it was proposed in the Akkas field in Anbar, the Mansouriya field in Diyala, and Siba in Basra within the licensing rounds, and the fields were referred to the specialized companies of Korea, Turkey, Kuwait, and others.”[/size]
[size=45]He stressed that “the companies stopped in 2014 as a result of the ISIS war and withdrew from development operations, and important projects were halted, but circumstances affected this and therefore attempts are being made to reinvest in the fields because stability is one of the important factors for gas investment.”[/size]
[size=45]Torch gas[/size]
[size=45]According to the World Bank's report on gas flaring, Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, and Nigeria were responsible for most gas flaring operations during the past 10 years. In recent years, Mexico, Libya, and China have also increased gas flaring.[/size]
[size=45]Together, these ten countries produce half the world's oil and are responsible for 75 percent of gas flaring.[/size]
[size=45]While the Independent Middle East magazine shed light on an environmental and health crisis in Iraq, resulting from the burning of natural gas, which leads to the release of toxins into the air, which raises the rate of pollution and poses a direct threat to the lives of local residents.[/size]
[size=45]Iraq burns the gas that comes out of the ground during oil exploration and production. The giant flames that are often seen coming out of giant nozzles in oil facilities are the result of burning this gas. This gas is also burned on the ground, or at the mouth of an oil well, where this process is called (flare gas).[/size]
[size=45]Electricity and gas of Iran[/size]
[size=45]Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani had announced, on March 29, the start of gas investment operations from the Akkas gas field in Anbar Governorate at a rate of (60) mm.[/size]
[size=45]Over the past decades, Iraq has suffered from a chronic shortage of gas, of which it imports large quantities from Iran, despite being one of the most prominent oil-producing countries in the Middle East, at a time when the accompanying gas is burned to extract the oil from which it can be used.[/size]
[size=45]While a member of the Iranian Union of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exporters, Hami Hosseini, said about Iranian gas exports to Iraq: Iran will remain a major exporter of goods and energy to Iraq for many years, regardless of its large investments in gas production.[/size]
[size=45]Self-sufficiency[/size]
[size=45]The Iraqi Ministry of Oil aims to stop burning gas as part of efforts to reduce emissions resulting from oil extraction work, and to secure the country's needs for fuel needed to operate power plants.[/size]
[size=45]Gas is currently produced in Iraq through the North, Basra and South Gas Companies, and there are plans to stop burning it in oil fields and invest in it.[/size]
[size=45]The Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee confirmed the entry of four companies to invest in Iraq's gas, while it believed that this investment will meet 30% of the country's need for gas, and it expected to achieve self-sufficiency within five years.[/size]
[size=45]Financial and banking expert, Mustafa Hantoush, confirmed to (Al-Mada) that “the issue of gas in Iraq is one of the largest issues of energy waste. Annually, Iraq loses about 4-5 billion dollars to purchase electricity due to the weakness of the gas system, and this waste is direct, but indirectly there is A lot of waste in industries and electric cars inside cities and elsewhere. We do not have a gas system and it is not available in gasoline filling stations due to the scarcity of this fuel, as there are factories that use electric energy and do not use gas, so Iraq entered with the Americans in licensing rounds such as Total. And other companies to produce quantities of gas within two to four years. Then Iraq will be almost self-sufficient if licenses are not granted, knowing that in the oil licensing rounds we reached approximately 15 million in 2022, but in 2023 we reached 5 million.”[/size]
[size=45]Hantoush adds, “Not all rounds are implemented because most of the contracts are marred by corruption. Therefore, implementation is gradual, and this is only if the gradual process is complete.”[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that the Prime Minister announced last July 11 an agreement to swap Iranian gas for crude and black oil, due to the difficulties imposed by the United States on Iraq’s delivery of imported Iranian gas funds for the purpose of operating electrical production stations.[/size]
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