Iraq ranks fourth in the world in gas reserves

Shafaq News/ Iraq ranks fourth in the world in gas reserves, The Parliamentary Oil and Energy Committee confirmed, on Saturday.

"Iraq is the fourth in the world with natural gas reserves, but annually, it burns about 18 billion cubic meters without any benefit." A member of the committee, Ghaleb Muhammad, told Shafaq News agency.

He added "the wasted amount of gas can be used to cover half of Iraq’s needs of generating electricity instead of importing it from countries in the region."

"Political parties have interests in wasting these quantities which represents a natural financial source of Iraq." He stated.

It’s noteworthy that Iraq signed with several international companies, including the US Shell and Baker Hughes to invest in associated gas.

Estimates indicate that Iraq has a stockpile of 112 trillion cubic feet of gas, but 700 million cubic feet are wasted daily because of infrastructure problems.

Iraq’s economy and oil sector were battered by years of wars, sanctions and a stubborn terrorism insurgency triggered by the U.S. invasion. Baghdad has complained it struggled to revive its stagnating oil industry.