Developing an Investment Strategy and Decarbonization Pathways for Iraq’s Chemical Industry
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE
This project, in collaboration with the World Bank, aimed to support climate change mitigation efforts by establishing a sustainable chemical industry inIraq. The initiative focused on attracting investment, enhancing value chain integration, and developing a decarbonization roadmap for upstream,midstream, and downstream petrochemical processing. The overarching objective was to reduce associated gas emissions and create a robustpetrochemical value chain aligned with global sustainability goals.
PROJECT APPROACH
The approach involved a comprehensive market assessment of the chemical and petrochemical sector in Iraq, focusing on key strategic areas:
- Market Assessment – Evaluated existing oil and gas infrastructure, market potential, and investment attractiveness across C1, C2, and C3 value chains.
- Sustainable Industry Development – Assessed GHG emissions from petrochemical activities and identified strategic enablers for emissions reduction.
- Investment & Decarbonization Opportunities – Developed a framework for value chain integration, focusing on investment prospects in midstream anddownstream petrochemical processing.
- Investment Roadmap for Associated Gas Utilization – Outlined an investment plan for leveraging associated gas to develop low-carbon chemicalproduction facilities.
OUR METHODOLOGY
The project leveraged a structured analytical approach utilizing:
- Primary Research & Requirements Collection – Engaged with key stakeholders across the petrochemical value chain.
- PESTEL Framework – Analyzed political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting investment.
- Evaluation Framework & Templates – Designed structured evaluation models for assessing market attractiveness.
- Benchmarking Analysis – Compared Iraq’s chemical industry potential with global best practices to identify investment and sustainability gaps.
THE RESULTS
The project successfully delivered:
- A comprehensive market assessment identifying investment opportunities across upstream, midstream, and downstream processing.
- An investment roadmap for utilizing associated gas in sustainable chemical production.
- A strategy for petrochemical industry growth, outlining potential public-private partnerships and investment zones.
- Identification of decarbonization opportunities, including CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) solutions.
