BP operates in Iraq as part of the joint venture Rumaila Operating Organization in the Rumaila oil field, the world's fourth largest oilfield, where it produced over of oil equivalent in 2011. A BBC investigation found in 2022 that waste-gas was being burned as close as 350 meters from people's homes. A leaked report from Ministry of Health (Iraq) blamed air pollution for 20% rise in cancer in Basra between 2015 and 2018.BP in oil field where 'cancer is rife', by Jess Kelly, Owen Pinnell & Esme Stallard, 30 September, BBC The Iraqi Ministry of Health has banned its employees from speaking about the health damage. Iraqi Environment Minister Jassem al-Falahi later admitted that "pollution from oil production is the main reason for increases in local cancer rates."
