Baker Hughes and General Electric signed a contract with the Iraqi government to process natural gas extracted alongside crude oil at the Nassiriya and Al-Gharraf oilfields in southern Iraq, Reuters reported.

In July 2017, GE announced their part of Iraq’s plan to prevent flaring gas from oilfields by 2021. Currently, Iraq is flaring this gas by-product, as it does not have the processing facilities necessary to make use of it.

Gas flaring results in $2.5 billion in lost revenue for the Iraqi government, meaning that this wasted gas product would be sufficient to cover the needs for gas-based power generation.

In January, Iraq signed a contract with US energy firm Orion for the processing of gas product extracted during oil drilling operations.

The Iraqi government relies on oil and gas sales for roughly 95% of its income.