Tehran, May 8 (IANS): Iran's Oil Ministry has urged the private sector to step in and help recover billions of dollars from going to waste in the country's natural gas sector through flaring, the media reported on Sunday.
The country loses at least 28 million cubic metres of natural gas flowing alongside extracted crude in oilfields each year, Xinhua news agency quoted Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr, an official with the Oil Ministry, as saying.
Iran needs to upgrade its flaring technology so as to prevent some $3.5 billion from being wasted each year, Khojasteh Mehr said.
Besides, the existing trend will cause further damage to the environment, he said.
He urged the private sector to invest in the sector and help secure Iran's hydrocarbon resources.
According to the report, a study in 2012 showed that Iran ranked third, after Russia and Iraq, in the global flaring of natural gas.