In the latest report issued by the World Bank published last July, Iraq ranked second in the world for the fourth year in a row among the highest burning countries of natural gas, so what are the reasons that prevent Baghdad from stopping this great bleeding in its capacity?
Are there any plans for benefiting from it?
Iraq came second after Russia, followed by the United States, and then Iran, as World Bank data indicate that in 2016 Iraq burned a total of 17.73 billion cubic meters of gas, then this increased in 2019 to 17.91 billion cubic meters burned in the air.
Not only that, but the amount of gas that Iraq burns daily - according to data from the International Energy Agency - is sufficient to supply at least 3 million homes with electrical energy, which the Iraqis have been suffering from for years.
Jihad pointed out that Iraq lost its associated gas exploitation facilities during the wars it witnessed in recent decades (Al-Jazeera Net)
Several reasons
There are many reasons that push Iraq to burn natural gas. According to the spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry, Asim Jihad, the gas sector is very complex and needs modern technology with a very high cost.
Jihad pointed out that natural gas in Iraq is divided into two types: the first is the gas associated with oil, which constitutes the largest part of the gas wealth in the country, and the second is free natural gas, which is represented by the crutch field in Anbar Governorate (west) and the Seiba field in Basra (south) and Mansouriya. In Diyala (east).
Jihad attributed the high rate of gas flaring in Iraq to that the increase in oil production is directly proportional to the increase in associated gas burning, and the other reason is that the wars that the country witnessed during the past four decades led to the destruction of the associated gas investment facilities that had begun to build in the seventies. the last century.
Regarding the investment of this burning gas, Jihad confirms to Al-Jazeera Net that Iraq began some time ago to invest associated gas through the Dutch Shell company that extracts oil in 4 fields in Basra, with a production rate ranging between 900 million to one billion standard cubic feet per day, and an investment plan that will arrive at Projects are completed to two thousand million standard cubic meters per day.
Jihad also confirms that Iraq - through its contracts with American, Chinese and other companies - aspires to invest all associated gas by 2025.
For his part, economist Basem Jamil Antoine attributed the burning of associated natural gas to inaction, neglect and corruption, and confirmed in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net that Iraq is burning 50% of the associated gas without any benefit from it.
Pipes to transport gas from a natural gas field in Basra (French)
Heavy losses
While Iraq pays large sums for importing natural gas from Iran, it burns 10 times the quantities it imports from Iran, according to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, with a waste of up to $ 2.5 billion annually.
The professor of economics at the Iraqi University, Abdul Rahman Al-Mashhadani, confirmed that Iraq is burning natural gas valued at $ 18 million per day, and pointed out that Iraq's gas reserves qualify it to be the fourth in the world.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Mashhadani indicated that Iraq imports from Iran an estimated more than 850,000 cubic meters per day, while it burns more than 30 million cubic meters per day, not counting the burning of free gas.
Antoine points out that Iraq imports Iranian gas to generate 3,500 megawatts, at very exorbitant amounts amounting to $ 4.5 billion annually, if the cost of direct Iranian exports of electricity were taken into account, and that this large amount could have been invested in building an advanced gas industry sufficient for the country's needs without relying on Import.
Representative of the Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee, Sadiq Al-Sulaiti, confirmed that Iraq loses more amounts through burning gas than estimated by the Washington Institute, noting that its losses amount to $ 5 billion annually, as well as wasting nearly two billion dollars in purchasing liquid fuel for power stations. Electricity generation due to the lack of gas in the country.
Al-Dulaimi Zaitoun considered that Iraq is chained in the matter of importing natural gas (Al-Jazeera Net)
Gas import file
As for the deputy for the Parliamentary Energy and Oil Committee, Zaitoon Al-Dulaimi, she believes that the oil licensing rounds for foreign companies since 2008 included the exploitation of gas associated with oil, but the successive governments did not do what they had to do with those companies, and thus the burning of gas continued.
The deputy commented - in an interview with Al-Jazeera Net - by saying that "Iraq has not adopted a real energy policy since 2003, especially since previous parliamentary sessions have not all succeeded in approving the laws of oil, gas and oil refineries."
As for Iraq's import of Iranian gas, she confirmed that Iraq buys Iranian gas at 4 times the price offered by other countries, referring to corruption in the Iranian gas import file, stressing that Iraq is bound by the issue of importing gas.
Al-Abadi said that 85% of the country's power plants depend on gas and associated derivatives (Al-Jazeera Net)
Gas and electricity
The amount of electrical production in Iraq ranges between 18.5 and 19 thousand megawatts, according to the spokesman for the Ministry of Electricity, Ahmed Al-Abadi, while the actual need reaches 28 thousand megawatts.
Al-Abadi pointed out that 85% of the country's power plants depend on gas and associated derivatives, and that Iraq imports from Iran to operate some of its stations an estimated 40 million cubic feet of gas per day and 1,200 megawatts as direct electricity, through the power networks between the two countries, and the financial losses that Iraq incurred by burning gas about 290 thousand dollars (at the minimum) per hour.