The Ministry of Health and Environment is the legal entity mandated with full life-cycle oversight of the oil and gas industry in Iraq. This includes review and approval of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), and monitoring the performance of the oil and gas industry in all its key phases. Although Iraq is one of the leading oil producing countries in the world, having produced oil for nearly a century since the 1920s, a modern environmental governance and management framework regulating the industry was only recently created in the mid-2000s. Preparation of EIAs in accordance with international standards began following the first oil licensing rounds in 2009 when the upstream oil and gas sector was opened to foreign investment. The capacity of the Environment Ministry to regulate and influence decision-making in a fast-growing oil and gas sector based on ‘good international practice’, however, is widely acknowledged to be inadequate and requires significant strengthening to successfully implement its mission.