Iraq's Oil & Gas Sector, Explained
Almost everything else in Iraq's economy starts here. Oil and gas revenue funds nearly all of the public budget — the salaries, the subsidies, and the power plants alike — so any company weighing an entry into Iraq is, whether it realizes it or not, making a bet on this sector first. This page walks through who produces it, where it goes, and why its gaps are opening doors for new entrants.
Iraq Oil at a Glance
Iraq is OPEC's second-largest producer, and crude exports supply over 90% of government revenue. That single fact explains a lot about how the country runs: oil prices move first, and the state's ability to fund infrastructure, subsidize fuel, and invest in power generation follows a few steps behind. The numbers below are the starting point — shifts here tend to surface, with a lag, in electricity budgets and public project financing.
Oil Production, Consumption & Exports
Five decades of war, sanctions, and recovery are visible in a single line. Iraq's output has swung from near-total shutdown to record highs, and the gap between what it produces and what it exports is the clearest signal of how little crude actually stays home for domestic use.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · Units: Thousand Barrels per Day (kb/d)
Year-on-Year Change & Export Share
Most Iraqi crude is exported rather than refined at home, which is why the country still imports refined fuel and gas for its own power stations even as it ships raw crude abroad. That gap between what Iraq extracts and what it can process domestically is a recurring theme across the energy sector — and it shows up most starkly in natural gas, covered next.
Production YoY Change
Annual delta in thousand barrels per day
Production Split (2024)
Exports vs domestic consumption share
Gas Consumption & Imports
Iraq sits on some of the world's largest gas reserves, yet it still buys gas from abroad. The chart below tells that story: consumption climbing steadily while a persistent slice of it has to be imported — the direct result of flaring gas that comes up alongside crude instead of capturing it.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) · Units: Billion Cubic Metres (BCM)
Iraq Gas at a Glance
Here is the gap in numbers: Iraq flares a large share of the gas produced alongside its crude, then imports gas — and, at times, electricity — from Iran to cover the shortfall at its own power plants. That import dependency has repeatedly exposed the grid to supply disruptions and sanctions risk. For companies offering gas-capture, domestic generation, or grid technology, this is one of the clearest and most durable entry points into the Iraqi market.
Oil Production & Exploration Companies
Every barrel Iraq produces passes through one of these state operators. Each holds a fixed regional mandate, which makes them the natural first call for any company looking to partner, contract, or bid on upstream work in a given part of the country.
| Company | Coverage | Website |
|---|---|---|
| North Oil Company (NOC) | Kirkuk, Nineveh, Saladin, parts of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Diyala | nocoil.gov.iq |
| Basra Oil Company (BOC) | Basra | boc.oil.gov.iq |
| Midland Oil Company (MdOC) | Baghdad, Diyala, Anbar, Wasit, Babylon, Najaf, Karbala, Diwaniyah, Muthanna | mdoc.oil.gov.iq |
| Maysan Oil Company (MOC) | Maysan | moc.oil.gov.iq |
| Dhi Qar Oil Company (DQOC) | Dhi Qar | toc.oil.gov.iq |
| Oil Exploration Company (OEC) | Nationwide — seismic & exploration | oec.oil.gov.iq |
Gas Companies
These are the operators standing between flared gas and a captured one — the state bodies responsible for gathering, processing, and distributing both associated and non-associated gas.
| Company | Coverage | Website |
|---|---|---|
| North Gas Company (NGC) | Kirkuk, Nineveh, Saladin | ngc.oil.gov.iq |
| South Gas Company (SGC) | Basra and southern gas infrastructure | sgc.oil.gov.iq |
| State Company for Gas Filling and Services | Nationwide | gfc.oil.gov.iq |
Refining Companies
Crude only becomes useful fuel once it passes through one of these plants. They're the link between production and anything Iraq actually burns at home, including at its own power stations — and a limiting factor that keeps the country reliant on imported refined product.
| Company | Coverage | Website |
|---|---|---|
| North Refineries Company (NRC) | Saladin (Baiji), Nineveh, Kirkuk | nrc.oil.gov.iq |
| Midland Refineries Company (MRC) | Baghdad (Daura), Najaf, Karbala, Diwaniyah, Babylon, Anbar, Diyala | mrc.oil.gov.iq |
| South Refineries Company (SRC) | Basra, Dhi Qar, Maysan | src.gov.iq |
Infrastructure, Logistics & Support Services
Beyond wells and refineries sits the machinery that keeps everything moving — pipelines, marketing, transport, engineering, and R&D bodies that connect Iraq's oil fields to export markets and keep daily operations running.
| Company | Coverage | Website |
|---|---|---|
| State Organization for Marketing of Oil (SOMO) | Nationwide / International — federal oil exports | somooil.gov.iq |
| Oil Pipelines Company (OPC) | Nationwide pipeline network | opc.oil.gov.iq |
| Oil Products Distribution Company (OPDC) | Nationwide | opdc.oil.gov.iq |
| Iraqi Oil Tankers Company (IOTC) | Nationwide / Maritime — marine transport, Basra HQ | iotc.oil.gov.iq |
| Iraqi Drilling Company (IDC) | Nationwide, Basra HQ | idc.gov.iq |
| State Company for Oil Projects (SCOP) | Nationwide — strategic oil projects | scop.oil.gov.iq |
| State Company for Heavy Engineering Equipment | Nationwide, Baghdad HQ | heesco.oil.gov.iq |
| Petroleum Research and Development Center | Nationwide, Baghdad HQ | prdc.oil.gov.iq |
Oil Training Institutes
None of the above runs without people. These regional institutes build the technical workforce behind Iraq's oil and gas sector, and they're useful contact points for any company exploring workforce development or training partnerships as part of its market entry.
| Institute | Coverage | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Oil Training Institute — Baghdad | Baghdad and central region | bagoti.edu.iq |
| Oil Training Institute — Baiji | Saladin | otibaiji.oil.gov.iq |
| Oil Training Institute — Basra | Basra | bsroti.edu.iq |
| Oil Training Institute — Maysan | Maysan | moti.oil.gov.iq |
| Oil Training Institute — Kirkuk | Kirkuk | koti.oil.gov.iq |
Oil & Gas Fund the Grid. Gas Shortfalls Strain It.
Everything above eventually points here. Fuel supply, budget revenue, and import dependency all feed directly into how much power Iraq can generate and how reliable its grid is — which is why no serious read of the electricity market starts anywhere else. For the full picture — capacity, demand growth, and where the gaps are — continue to our Electricity page.
Explore Electricity Data