Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani has declared that Baghdad has set a “zero flaring” target in gas projects it is awarding to foreign companies.

Speaking at a sustainable development conference in New York on Tuesday, Sudani said Iraq is giving priority to funding climate protection programmes on the grounds it is one of the most vulnerable nations to climatic changes.

“Iraq has started to implement defined climate objectives, including exploiting associated gas to produce clean energy…the aim is to reach zero flare by 2030,” Sudani said in his remarks, published by Al-Forat News and other Iraqi publications.

Iraq has awarded several oil and gas contracts over the past months with the aim of tapping its enormous gas resources to slash imports from nearby Iran, halt gas flaring, and ensure sufficient feedback for its power facilities.

The largest contract was signed in July with France’s TotalEnergies with a value of nearly $27 billion. The deal aims to increase oil and gas production and boost the country's capacity to produce energy with four oil, gas and renewables projects.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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