WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S.

companies signed a series of agreements on Wednesday to capture

natural gas traditionally flared from Iraq's oilfields and use

it to produce domestic power while reducing dependence on

neighboring Iran for energy.

Boosting the energy independence of Iraq, one of the

world's top oil and gas producers, and reducing reliance on Iran

is a top U.S. foreign policy goal. But Iraq's oil and gas fields

have suffered years of under investment and since 2018,

Washington has had to issue Iran sanctions waivers to Iraq that

allow it to buy power imported from the Islamic republic.

The agreements, signed in Washington in the presence of

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and U.S. officials,

are meant to spur investment in processing 300 million standard

cubic feet per day of natural gas at the Bin Umar oilfield.

Halfaya Gas Company, an affiliate of Iraq's RAS Group,

signed an agreement with Iraq's South Gas Company to invest in

processing the gas.

U.S. companies signing memorandums of understanding with

Iraqi entities on the projects included KBR, Baker

Hughes ( BKR ), and GE. The companies did not disclose

projected monetary value of the agreements.

Collecting and burning the gas to generate power can help

fight climate change as simply flaring it wastes the fuel while

doing nothing to reduce demand for additional gas supply from

Iran.

The agreements also call for 400 kilometers (250 miles) of

pipelines to transport the gas, a marine export terminal, a gas

processing plant and other facilities.

Iraq has the potential to "harness immense natural gas

resources, invest in new energy infrastructure and renewables,

and achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2030" said a statement

jointly issued by the U.S. and Iraq during a visit to Washington

by Sudani this week.

Geoffrey Pyatt, assistant secretary for energy resources at

the U.S. State Department said the projects would be developed

over the next couple of years. "Because they have under-invested

over many years in their oil and gas sector, they have

tremendous potential to do much more today," Pyatt told Reuters.