Sustainable development of natural gas in Iraq

Abstract

Interest in the use of natural gas began in a limited manner in the late fifties of the twentieth century, but the widespread interest in the exploitation and manufacture of natural gas did not begin in Iraq until the end of the seventies of the same century. Natural gas is characterized as the cleanest and least-emission fuel, which is an important source of thermal, mechanical and electrical energy in the transport, industry, electricity and housing sectors, as well as being a raw material for petrochemical industries and for the production of insecticides, agricultural production materials and protein materials, and therefore gas is the most important alternative energy source for oil, as Contributes to about a quarter of the energy consumed in the world.Iraq relies moderately on natural gas to cover energy requirements, as the share of natural gas in Iraq has reached about 15% of energy use, as Iraq consumes about 88,000 barrels of oil equivalent / day, a figure that appears to be low compared to some Gulf countries such as the UAE and Kuwait who consume Of natural gas, about 1080 and 1145 barrels of oil equivalent / day in 2019, as Iraq produces 30 thousand barrels of oil equivalent / day of natural gas liquids from natural gas processing units, and this constitutes 1.1% of Arab production.That the burned gas has reached 7 billion cubic meters, and therefore Iraq is ranked among the third highest 20 countries in the year in terms of gas burning rates, and Iraq loses daily 200 thousand dollars of waste gas, which is 7.3 billion dollars annually, and in return, the establishment of a system to save gas does not cost Only 650 million dollars! Given that most of the Iraqi gas is of the accompanying type, the production of gas in Iraq is mainly affected by oil production, the volume of the associated gas produced will be about 3.9 billion standard cubic feet per day (40 billion cubic meters annually), and thus the annual loss of Iraq is three Billions of dollars due to burning gas without investing it. The proven reserves of natural gas in Iraq are 3170 billion cubic meters in 2019, occupying the fifth Arab position, with 6% of the Arab reserve, 3.4% of OPEC reserves, and 1.7% of the global natural gas reserve in the same year. And if Iraq succeeds in investing the burned gas, it will add an annual resource estimated at 3 billion and 700 million dollars, and sustainable development comes in three main areas: economic growth, conservation of natural resources, the environment, and social development, and all these areas are interrelated and cannot be separated, but our countries Missing all of them means the failure of our sustainable developmentbeekeeping activity in the study area, despite the importance of other aspects that are integral to the sustainability of the mentioned activity