- Title: IRAQ: Iraqi tribal disputes pose new challenge to oil firms
- Date: 2nd June 2011
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LEADING MEMBER OF AL IMARA TRIBE, SHEIKH RASHASH, SAYING: "A company wanted to extend pipelines across arable lands, but some of the farmers prevented them. They told them 'you did not honour your commitments. You did not employ our children and did not compensate us for our lands'. I think that work has come to a halt for four or five days for these r
- Embargoed: 17th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Iraq, Iraq
- Country: Iraq
- Topics: Industry,Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA519US9DQBUEIO60Y6EZB6VYLT
- Story Text: Sitting in his reed meeting house in what was once Iraq's marshes, Sheikh Rashash al-Imara warns of potential trouble if his poor tribesmen are driven off their land by foreign companies digging for oil.
"If they (oil companies) won't help the people and if they do not employ their children and don't compensate them, even if by conciliation, for their lands, the people will starve to death because they depend on farming,'' said Sheikh Rashash, a former Iraqi army general, who is now a leading figure in the al-Imara tribe in southern Iraq.
"What I hope for and re-assert is that the local government and companies should not give a chance to a group of people of the area to become bad guys. By bad guys, I mean that they might deter (the work of the) companies and create some problems and cause delays," he added.
Thought to be the site of the biblical Garden of Eden, Iraq's ancient marshes have for years been known locally as a dangerous haven for smugglers, bandits and kidnappers.
But tribes here also live above some of the richest oil reserves in Iraq, and negotiating with them is the latest challenge for international companies working the country's petroleum fields in some of the largest deals the industry has seen.
Saddam Hussein, ousted by a 2003 U.S.-led invasion and subsequently executed, had accused the Marsh Arabs of treason during his 1980-88 war with Iran. He had dammed and drained the marshes to flush out rebels hiding among the reed stalks.
The Imara tribe dwells in what is now the outskirts of the marshes. Miles of wasteland scattered with palm trees, baked mud huts, stagnant water canals and rusty pipelines are all that remain of the ancient wetlands.
Oil is the backbone of Iraq's economy, which was left in tatters after years of war and economic sanctions. Baghdad signed a series of deals with oil companies to develop its vast oil reserves that could boost its output potential to Saudi Arabian levels and generate billions of cash needed to rebuild.
International oil companies working in Iraq already grapple with many challenges, from security to crumbling infrastructure, logistical bottlenecks and bureaucracy.
Russian energy company Lukoil and its consortium partner Norway's Statoil are developing West Qurna Phase Two oilfield, partly crossing through farms where the Imara live, fuelling fears among tribesman they will be evicted.
Many tribesmen are illiterate and have little chance of finding work outside the farms. They want compensation for land used by foreign oil companies, or for companies to employ them.
Sheikh Rashash said he had met with the oil companies to explain his tribe's concerns and warned that some may sue South Oil Co., the Iraqi state-run partner, and seek compensation.
Already, some farmers have prevented oil workers from operating in the field, he added, without giving details.
"A company wanted to extend pipelines across arable lands, but some of the farmers prevented them. They told them 'you did not honour your commitments. You did not employ our children and did not compensate us for our lands'. I think that work has come to a halt for four or five days for these reasons," he said.
The Lukoil-led consortium delayed the start of production in the West Qurna Phase Two field by a year until 2013, partially due to troubles with the tribe living there, said the head of state-run South Oil Co., Dhiya Jaffar.
"We have an unresolved problem, the issue of compensating the people for their land. Some have official ownership contracts for land, others have lease contracts, while others have agricultural contracts. The Cabinet has empowered the Oil Ministry to form ad hoc committees to settle the issue of the land in West Qurna Phase Two and Majnoon oilfields without going to court as it was the case before. This issue is confusing the international (oil) companies."
During Saddam's 24-year rule, the government allowed farmers to live and plant the land around oilfields under annual leases with the oil ministry. Now, the farmers say, they are being stalled by officials when they ask for compensation.
The Iraqi oil ministry has said before that the government would offer compensation of cash or other land in some cases but the state was always the rightful owner of the oilfields.
Hoping to resolve the dispute, the oil ministry has set up committees to negotiate with local communities in the West Qurna Phase Two and Majnoon oilfields, Jaffar said. The latter field is developed by Royal Dutch Shell and Malaysia's Petronas.
In a village near al-Khoyout, where the Imara tribe lives, another tribe, the Bani Mansour, complains of similar problems. Their farmland sits atop West Qurna Phase One oilfield, which is being developed mainly by U.S. oil major ExxonMobil.
Tribal sheikh Wafi Abdul-Razzak said he would leave his village if the oil company paid him because his village lacked basic services including hospitals, schools and drinking water.
In Bani Mansour village, the water canals are filthy pools of stagnant water filled with heaps of rubbish. A decaying oil pipeline lies on the ground in the middle of a cluster of huts. Barefooted and dust-covered children played inside the tube.
But locals there also have similar complaints saying they live 'atop a sea of oil' and yet do not reap the true rewards of what lies beneath their farmland. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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