Rumaila oil field

Rumaila is a super-giant oil field in southern Iraq, about 50 kilometres south-west of the city of Basra. It was discovered in 1953 and is the largest oil field ever found in Iraq, and one of the biggest in the world.

The field holds an estimated 17 billion barrels of oil, around 12 percent of Iraq's reserves. In 2025 it produced about 1.37 million barrels a day, roughly 30 percent of the country's oil. It is also famous for its heavy gas flaring, the burning of unwanted gas, which the operators have worked to cut. Several oil companies work together to run it today.

History of Rumaila

The Basrah Petroleum Company, part of the Iraq Petroleum Company, found the field in 1953. Iraq took control of it in 1961 and finished nationalising the oil companies in 1972 and 1975. A dispute about whether Iraq's neighbour was drilling sideways into the field was one of the reasons Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. After years of sanctions, the equipment was old, and in 2009 Iraq signed a service contract with bp, PetroChina and Iraq's state marketing company.

Oil and the environment

Since the contract began, production has risen by about 35 percent. Hundreds of wells operate at the field; about 550 were producing in 2019. Gas that comes out with the oil used to be burned off in tall flares. The operating organisation says it cut flaring by about 60 percent between 2016 and 2021. Local people have also raised concerns about pollution and health, and a scientist told the BBC in 2022 that cancer in the area was very common.

On the globe

The model shows an oil field with wells and gas flares in the desert near Basra. Look for the burning flares.