Western oil companies operating in southern Iraq are exacerbating water shortages and causing pollution as they increase production to profit from rising oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, experts and locals say.
In the oil-rich but parched south, wetlands that once sustained entire communities have turned into muddy canals. Mahdi Mutir, a 57-year-old fisherman from Al Khora, north of Basra, said his boat now lies stranded in mud because of a dam built by Italian company Eni to divert water to its oilfields. Eni stated that it uses only salty, polluted canal water that does not compete with freshwater supplies, but satellite images show the diverted water merges with a public treatment plant providing 35% of Basra’s household water.
Another plant at Qarmat Ali, operated by BP, PetroChina and the South Oil Company, accounts for 25% of daily water consumption in a region of nearly 5 million people. For each barrel of oil extracted, up to three barrels of water are pumped into the ground.
Iraq’s water crisis has been long predicted. In 2012, the US Energy Information Administration warned that water needs for oil would rise tenfold, competing with agriculture and drinking water. Despite this, little has been done. In 2018, acute water shortages in Basra sent 118,000 people to hospital and sparked violent protests that left at least five dead.
Robert Mills of Qamar Energy said oil companies should find alternatives to freshwater. Saudi Arabia uses seawater for injection, but Iraq has delayed similar projects for over a decade due to budget constraints and lack of company investment. Meanwhile, gas flaring adds to pollution in a country already ranked by the UN as the fifth most vulnerable to climate change.
