Research briefing / Iraq-wide

Baker Institute connects Iraq’s power shortage with gas flaring and grid limits

The research argues that more generation must be matched with fuel, transmission, distribution and viable collection.

A June 2025 Baker Institute paper examines why Iraq can flare associated gas while facing fuel constraints for power generation. It brings together gas capture, tariff incentives, constrained transmission and distribution, metering and regional interconnection in one sector diagnosis.

Its central policy argument is that additional power stations will be less useful without dependable fuel and a network able to deliver and account for their output. The paper draws partly on a January 2025 expert workshop and earlier published evidence; it is a research assessment, not a new engineering audit of every grid asset.

For investors, the paper highlights dependencies between a generation project, gas processing, network connection and payment systems. Project-level due diligence still needs current technical and commercial data.

Sources

Rice University Baker Institute · research paper

Source published or updated: 17 Jun 2025 · Sources checked: 5 Oct 2026.

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