Gas at the heart of Iraq’s transition

While oil has grabbed the headlines for Iraq, tapping its gas potential could transform the country’s economic fortunes

Iraq is a global oil giant, home to c.144bn bl of recoverable reserves, based on a conservative recovery factor of 17-29pc. But it also has the potential to be a gas player of international significance if it can overcome challenges to unlocking this opportunity. Given it provides more than 90pc of government funding, it is no surprise that the export of the vast majority of Iraq’s c.5mn bl/d of oil production attracts greater attention. It is also entirely understandable—with this budget centrality—that Baghdad has ambitions to increase output to 8mn bl/d by 2027. There remain large swathes of the country that are underexplored. And the government is recalculating its recoverable reserve fi