Due to gas flaring practices, Iran loses at least 28mcm of natural gas flowing alongside extracted crude in oilfields, according to the Under-Deputy Oil Minister, Mohsen Khojasteh Mehr, Press TV reported.

The senior Petroleum Ministry official, talking at Iran’s first International Flaring Conference, held in Tehran, said that the country needed to upgrade its flaring technology so as to prevent some .

5b from going to waste each year, according to Albawaba news.

Mehr added that the existing trend to flare the Associated Petroleum Gas will cause further damage to the environment, and urged the private sector to play a more pronounced role to help safeguard Iranian hydrocarbon resources.