Iraq now produces a total of 3.1 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day, the office of Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said on Saturday, up from 2.9 billion cubic feet in 2022.

Captured and processed gas does not exceed 1.8 billion cubic feet per day, the statement added, which came after al-Sudani visited southern Iraq to inaugurate new energy projects in Basra and Misan.

Iraq wants to eliminate gas flaring by 2028, however the country continues to flare some of the gas extracted alongside crude oil because it lacks the facilities to process it into fuel for local consumption or exports, the statement said.

Iraq spends roughly $4 billion per year on imports of Iranian gas and power while at the same time burning massive quantities of natural gas as a byproduct of its hydrocarbons sector.

(Reporting by Moayed Kenany, Editing by Louise Heavens)