Unity state to take action against oil companies over pollution

November 4, 2013 (BENTIU) – Authorities in South Sudan’s Unity state say they are introducing tough measures against oil companies to stop oil producing areas from becoming pollution.

Most of Unity state’s oil wells are reported to have leaked during the rainy season, which runs from April to November, threatening the health, livelihoods and lives of those living near oil wells.

Oil companies operating in Unity state have discouraged communities from living in the proximity of oil fields and advised people to stop drinking pond water for their own safety.

An oil task force – comprised of journalists from South Sudan funded by Norwegian Peoples Aid aiming to increase awareness among people living in the vicinity of Unity state’s many oil fields – said on Friday that negligence by oil companies can have dangerous environmental consequences.

Benjamin Majak Dau, Unity state’s acting information minister, said the government is doing what it can to inform its citizens about the dangers of living near oil-producing areas. Dau says authorities are training community leaders to take lead in raising awareness.

Unity state has discovered that a lot needs to be done in terms of “regulations” and “environmental assessment”. He added that the government has raised concerns about the “great deal of damage” in counties producing oil.

“We had also appeal to them for more awareness to be exerted to our civil population”, said Dau.

The measures the government have asked the oil companies introduce include sign posting of potentially dangerous areas, building up clean water stations for communities around areas that produce oil, health centres and schools for the communities.

Last year it was reported that the area around Tharjath oil field, which is operated by the Sudd Petroleum Operating Company, a joint venture between Malaysian owned Petronas and the South Sudanese.

The minister says the government is encouraging locals employed at oil companies in Unity state to form their own union in order to send faster and more accurate messages of awareness to the communities living near areas of production.

Benny Ngor, the deputy field production manager for the other oil Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC), which also operates in Unity state, confirmed that due to poor management was contributing to an unsafe environment.

Ngor says the majority-Chinese-owned oil company is doing its best to provide clean water to residents and was learning from how leaking from oil wells found its way into pond water that is used for both animal and human consumption.

Unity state’s information minister said the company is concerned about health of people in the surrounding communities.

The leaks may have contaminated “a lot of areas and during [the] dry season most of our cattle and some people are drinking from those ponds”, minister Dau said.

However, Ngor maintains that GNPOC are taking the lead in discouraging people from drinking pond water in order to avoid future contamination.

He added that some of the oil fields near the border between Sudan and South Sudan were damaged during conflict in April 2012 and are yet to be properly repaired.

(ST)