Anglo-Dutch firm Shell is at the forefront of painstaking efforts to reduce Iraq’s massive gas flaring, which though at shockingly high levels fell back below 70% of gross output in January. The firm’s 2015 Annual Report, released 10 March, emphasized that in late-2015 it “brought a project onstream that captures gas from the Majnoon field in Iraq to help supply the domestic market.”

Gross Iraqi gas output rose to a record 2.666bn cfd in January, though with a massive 1.784bn cfd flared, sales gas is a much more modest 882mn cfd (see graph). (CONTINUED - 236 WORDS)