Iraq follows Russia, Iran as largest gas-flaring country in 2025

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq was one of the largest three countries worldwide for gas flaring in 2025, following Russia and Iran.

According to World Bank data, the three nations burned around 84 billion cubic meters of gas, accounting for more than half of the global flared gas volume.

Worldwide gas flaring has climbed for the third consecutive year, hitting 167 billion cubic meters in 2025, the highest amount in six years. This resulted in an estimated $54 billion in gas losses.

Russia and Iran were the primary sources of the annual spike in gas flaring, with Iraq being among the top three drivers.

The World Bank reported that nine countries—Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, and the United States—account for more than 80 percent of worldwide gas flaring, while producing about half of the world’s oil.

Continued gas flaring indicates issues such as poor infrastructure, weak gas markets, financial difficulties, and unbalanced regulatory enforcement, all of which impede investments required to utilize associated gas.

To eliminate regular gas flaring worldwide, investments ranging from $70 billion to $100 billion would be required, which is less than double the annual value of the gas being lost.

Gas flaring, or burning off excess natural gas during oil production, has long been a major environmental and economic problem.

When crude oil is extracted from oil wells, associated raw natural gas also rises to the surface. In regions lacking pipelines or other gas transportation infrastructure, large volumes of this associated gas are often flared, resulting in waste or unused gas.

The natural gas not combusted by a flare is released into the atmosphere as methane. Methane’s global warming potential is projected to be around 32 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over a century.

Eliminating gas flaring in Iraq is an essential aspect of Baghdad’s goals to attain self-sufficiency and lower its import costs, as well as meet its climate pledges.

The strategy of the Iraqi government aims to cease gas flaring in oil fields over the coming few years and achieve a production rate of three billion standard cubic feet per day by 2030.