IRAQ: Farmers pushed out by oilfields

Record ID: 343460

  • Title: IRAQ: Farmers pushed out by oilfields
  • Date: 23rd August 2010
  • Summary: ZUBAIR, BASRA, IRAQ (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OIL-WELL FIRES NEAR CULTIVATED AREAS OIL-WELLS FIRE/ REED FENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FARMER ZAKI SALEH SAYING: "We have been waiting for the renewal of our contracts for more than three years now. We have two contracts on hold at the oil company. They are still pending approval from the oil company. We cannot plant our lan
  • Embargoed: 7th September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: Lifestyle,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVA28NBS0MDVVMS0P3YUQ3YHF1U8
  • Story Text: Tribes who for centruries have farmed dates, melons and vegetables are being pushed aside in the rush to develop Iraq's vast oil reserves.
    Zaki Saleh has worked his acreage near the oil hub of Basra since 1986 but stands to lose it in Iraq's post-war rush for the black gold that lies below the plot he harvests for tomatoes and cucumbers.
    Contracts awarded to global oil firms that could boost Iraq's production capacity to 12 million barrels per day from 2.5 million now are a possible boon for a country left in ruins by decades of war, sanctions and economic decline.
    But they are a misfortune for farmers like Saleh, whose fields lie over the 4-billion-barrel Zubair oilfield that will be developed by Italy's Eni <ENI.MI> and partners U.S. oil major Occidental Petroleum<OXY.N> and South Korea's KOGAS<036460.KS>.
    "We have been waiting for the renewal of our contracts for more than three years now. We have two contracts on hold at the oil company. They are still pending approval from the oil company. We cannot plant our land if the company fails to renew our contracts. They have also blocked the road and denied us access to our cultivated areas," said Saleh, 46, who has a farm in Zubair.
    The fertile acreage atop some of the world's largest oilfields has been farmed for dates, melons and vegetables for centuries but the tribes that work the land say they are being pushed aside in the rush to develop Iraq's vast reserves.
    A tribal sheikh in southern Maysan province has been suing Iraq's state oil sector since before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion over the loss of farmland, demanding $2 million in compensation.
    That could be a test case for disputes over oilfields assigned to foreign oil giants in two bidding rounds last year.
    The allure of quadrupled oil output is irresistible. Capacity of 12 million bpd would rival oil power Saudi Arabia.
    It would allow Iraq, which has the world's third-largest reserves, to raise the cash it needs to rebuild, and attain the level of prosperity perhaps needed to halt a stubborn insurgency that continues to kill and maim hundreds every month.
    The OPEC producer is counting on majors like Britain's BP Plc <BP.L>, Russia's Lukoil <LKOH.MM>, Royal Dutch Shell <RDSa.L>, ExxonMobil <XOM.N> and others to bring the needed investment and expertise to its fields.
    The failure of Iraqi political factions to agree on a coalition government since an inconclusive March election is hampering their work but has not so far stopped the oil firms from laying the groundwork for the development projects.
    When the U.S.-led invasion force ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, oil platforms at the West Qurna oilfields to the north of Zubair were protected from looters by the Mehyyat tribe.
    Wasmi Fayyad al-Mehyyat, a leader in Ebra village about 110 km (70 miles) north of Basra, said his tribe had lived in the area for 600 years, but the state-run South Oil Company (SOC) was trying to drive his people away.
    They have offered to move if the Oil Ministry will compensate them and give them some other land nearby, he said, but four years of talks have yet to yield a result.
    "The tribe is under pressure from the oil company to make it leave the area. We have lived in the area for 600 or 500 years and we do not have money and we do not have a place to go to if we have to leave this area and yield to the pressure put on us by the company. If the company needs this area, it should give us some other land or compensate us according to the laws," said Mehyyat.
    The urgency to reach an agreement increased after West Qurna Phase One and Phase Two, two of the world's largest oil projects, were awarded to the international firms last year.
    During Saddam's 24-year reign, the government allowed farmers to plant the land within oilfields under annual lease contracts from the Oil Ministry. Now, the farmers say, they are being stalled when they ask for renewals of their leases.
    "The SOC hinders the paperwork and puts the farmers on hold for one year or six months and at the end they were rejected. Sometimes they reject the renewal of a contract for a farmer who has an approved lease for the past five, ten, and even 20 years. How can a farmer leave land which he has planted for 20 years," asked Akram Nimaa, head of a Zubair farmers' cooperative of 3,500 farms, 2,000 of which lie within oilfields or near oil installations.
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