Burned, not used
When Iraq pumps oil, gas comes up with it. That gas can be captured — sold, or burned in power stations. Iraq burns much of it off in open flames, while it buys gas from Iran and its people sit through summer blackouts.
24.1billion cubic metres
of gas burned off at Iraq’s oil fields in 2025 — the third most of any country, and 14.5% of all the gas flared on earth.
In the company of Russia and Iran
The world’s biggest flarers in 2025, as the World Bank measures them from satellite images of every flame.
Every year since 2012
Flaring peaked at 31.5 bcm in 2017 and has held near 24 since 2020. Per barrel it is slowly falling — 15.1 m³ of gas burned for every barrel of oil in 2025, down from 19.3 in 2012 — but Iraq produces so much oil that the total barely moves.
What it was worth
$10.4 billion
That is what the gas Iraq flared in 2025 would have cost to buy, at the year’s European gas price ($11.96 per million Btu). It is enough to pay every public salary in Iraq for 2.7 months — the state’s whole payroll for 2025 was 60.4 trillion dinars, about $3.8 billion a month at 1,310 dinars to the dollar.
A replacement value, not money lost: capturing and processing the gas costs billions too. Europe’s price is what gas costs to bring in; at the far lower US price the figure would be a fraction of this.
The electricity it could make
Burned in power stations instead, the gas flared in 2024 could have made about 96 terawatt-hours of electricity — 64% of everything Iraq generated that year, and more than all its gas-fired power stations produced.
An upper bound: 4 terawatt-hours per billion cubic metres is the World Bank’s rule of thumb for efficient plants, and not every flare can practically be captured.
While buying gas from Iran
Iraq’s power stations run partly on gas piped from Iran. In 2025 Iraq imported 6 bcm — and burned off 4 times as much of its own.
Imports from Iran as the World Bank reports them: 9 bcm in 2024, 6 bcm in 2025, well below the contracted amount — the shortfall is one reason for the blackouts.
Where it burns
Five oil fields burn 56% of the gas. Most of it burns in the giant southern fields, several of them run by foreign oil companies under contract with the state. The map shows every flare; close in on the Basra fields to see them named.
| Field | Operator | bcm |
|---|---|---|
| West Qurna 2-Yamama | LUKOIL | 4.46 |
| Rumaila | Basra Energy Company | 3.89 |
| Bai Hassan | North Oil Company (Iraq) | 2.08 |
| West Qurna 1 | PetroChina | 1.75 |
| Zubair | Basra Oil Company | 1.45 |
| Ajil | North Oil Company (Iraq) | 1.26 |
| Buzurgan | CNOOC Ltd | 1.04 |
| Halfaya | PetroChina | 1.02 |
HOW THESE NUMBERS ARE MADE
- Gas flared — the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership, which measures every flare from satellite (VIIRS) each year. The series →
- Value — flared volume × 36.02 million Btu per bcm (the World Bank’s heat content) × the year’s average European gas price from its pink sheet. The working →
- Salaries — the Ministry of Finance’s compensation of employees for the full year, at the year’s average official exchange rate. The series →
- Electricity — 4 TWh per bcm (World Bank), against Ember’s count of what Iraq generated. The working →
- Imports from Iran — as stated in World Bank, Global Gas Flaring Tracker (June 2026) ↗.
- The map — the Bank’s estimate for each flare, with the field and operator it attributes. Field names are shortened (“Rumaila” for “Rumaila (TSC)”). The workbook ↗