Oil companies demanded to contain environmental pollution

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Basra province’s council chairman, Jabbar Amin, has demanded that the oil companies that won the recent oil licensing session in Iraq to “contain the impacts of environmental pollution, caused by oil production operations in the province.” “The companies that won the oil licensing sessions in Basra province have caused several damages to Basra Province, including the exploitation of several areas and pressure on streets and bridges, as well as the exploitation of the energy,” Amin told a news conference. The said activity “had caused damage to the environment and increased the average of pollution, caused by oil extraction and the burning of large quantities of gas,” he noted. Basra Province’s Council Chairman also called on the oil companies to accelerate the process of “laying down a limit for such harmful pollution.” The Media Director of Basra‘s Environment told IraqiNews.com news agency that the oil refineries and fields use exhaust systems, which he said “have become too old and their non-maintenance have caused an improper burning process, which has resulted in harmful gases being pumped out.” “These gases have a passive impact on human health, apart from their passive impact on the agricultural lands,” Khaza’al Mahdi told IraqiNews.com news agency. He pointed out that the Basra Environment Directorate had received complains by Nahran Omer Oil Field north of Basra, charging that such activities have caused harm to both the environment and health, as a result of the existence of gases that fall on houses situated close to the oil fields in that area. Basra, the center of the province carrying the same name, is 590 km to the south of Baghdad. SKH/SR 95