Prediction of Energy Production from Oil and Natural Gas with Artificial Neural Networks: The Example of Iraq

Energy is an indispensable necessity for human life. Human life shows an energy-based development. The energy needs of developing societies tend to increase continuously due to demographic, social, and economic reasons. Every society tries to meet this increasing energy need by using certain resources. Iraq meets its growing energy needs mostly from oil and natural gas. In this study, the amount of energy that Iraq will produce from oil and natural gas for ten years has been estimated by using the artificial neural network model, which is used in many fields because it has high estimation skills. The amount of energy produced from natural gas and oil in Iraq between 1972 and 2022 was taken as annual data. After training the data, the weights with the lowest error margin were determined, and the estimation was made. Using the artificial neural network, a 10-year energy production estimation was made separately for oil and natural gas. Iraq is predicted to produce energy mostly by using fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas between 2023 and 2032. This study will be a helpful resource for the Iraqi state in shaping its future energy policy.