Natural Gas Industry in Iraq - (Reality, Challenges, Prospects)

Abstract

Natural gas has occupied great importance in the global energy market, since the seventies of the last century, after the occurrence of a series of oil crises, which resulted in a rise in crude oil prices, as well as the growing fears of oil supplies among consuming countries, especially industrialized ones, which This has led most countries of the world to turn to the gas industry as one of the sources of fossil energy, in addition to the decrease in the volume of gases emitted from it, which reduces the environmental risks resulting from its use, whether in the field of energy manufacturing, or in the field of industry, such as the fertilizer industry. Iraq has huge reserves of natural gas amounting to (3820) billion cubic meters, which constituted up to (1.86%) of the global reserves, which gives an opportunity for Iraq to be one of the main players in the natural gas trade. However, we note that the exploitation of natural gas and the degree of its manufacture In Iraq, it is still below the required level, as the amount of gas burned amounted to more than 50% of the gas produced for reasons related to technological progress and the policy followed by the Iraqi government, as well as the destruction caused by the wars of the infrastructure of the natural gas industry in Iraq.