Protesters Force Gazprom Neft to Quit Halabja Block

HOREN, Iraq - Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has been forced to halt operations in the Halabja block following demonstrations by locals demanding all oil companies quit the region and the Kurdish government drop its drive for independent oil exports.

The protesters announced an October 20 deadline for Gazprom Neft to stop all exploration activity after hundreds of people from 34 villages around the town of Darbandikhan held a demonstration last Thursday, branding slogans saying: “We don’t give water for oil”.

Locals including farmers, professionals and environmentalists want the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to focus on tourism and agriculture and believe the Kurdistan Region would be better off co-operating with Baghdad over oil.

They believe the KRG would then be more likely to receive its 17 per cent share of federal budget payments, which Baghdad has withheld since March.

“Scientific evidence shows work conducted by this company is lethal and damages the environment, air, water wells and springs - and such changes are irreversible,” said a statement issued by the protesters.

The oil company was forced to stop work after a similar protest in September was followed by a strike of up to 50 Kurdish workers employed by Gazprom Neft. The workers stopped work for three hours and on the same day the company agreed to reduce the working day from 12 hours to eight, and provide health insurance.

Neither Gazprom Neft nor the KRG responded to requests for comment.

It was unclear how much sympathy for the protesters exists across the Kurdistan Region, which has seen an influx of international oil company investment in the last few years.

Gazprom Neft is involved in three projects in the Kurdistan Region - the Shakal, Garmian and Halabja blocs - and estimated geological reserves for all three, as of the end of 2013, are more than 1.3 billion tonnes of oil. In the Halabja block, the company is conducting geological surveys.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has a 20 percent stake in production sharing agreements in the three blocks, according to Gazprom Neft’s web site. 

Meydan District, which is part of the Halabja bloc, has no administrative relation to the city of Halabja and is closer to the town of Darbandikhan. The protesters gathered last week close to the Gazprom Neft camp near the villages of Khaknew and Kamtaran.

A wanted leader of the protest movement, Kamaran Ali, emerged out of hiding to be greeted with huge applause. Arrest warrants have been issued for him, his brother and a third person over allegations that they brought Gazprom Neft to a halt at gunpoint. All three deny this.

Ali, a member of the self-proclaimed Higher Council of the Shrafbayani Area, told Rudaw that he found it comfortable hiding in the mountains because he is a Peshmerga veteran.

The villages have elected their own representatives to the Council and refuse to accept any deal that might be made with Gazprom Neft by any other intermediary, including the mukhtars or village chiefs.

There were about 200 protesters, many of them dressed in traditional Kurdish dress. Ali said they have collected signatures from 2,000 people to force Gazprom Neft to leave the area. 

Although the protest was supposed to start at 3.30 pm, they waited for almost an hour for Ali to arrive.

“The will of the people is stronger than the will of any enemy,” Ali told the cheering crowd. He spoke from the top of a mound of crushed stone, sand and soil and dominated the meeting, although other Council members accompanied him.

The protesters then made their way as close to Gazprom Neft’s camp as the police and Asayish security forces would allow.

Locals accuse the oil company of damaging the environment through the use of heavy trucks and explosions, which they say dry out the water springs. They have filled in some of the holes the company has dug to detonate explosions.

“The exploration has already affected the water level and the springs in some villages. I demand the company to stop its work, and instead we ask (the government) to encourage the tourism industry and agricultural sectors in the area,” said Bryar Aziz, a young protester.

Some protesters denied they were demanding employment opportunities and land compensation. But a statement appeared on a Facebook page named after Belula village nearby and called on Gazprom Neft and Global Geophysical Services, another company operating in the area, to prioritize job opportunities for locals.

It was issued in the name of the Youth Group of Bamo, another name for the area, and they demanded jobs for people from the Meydan District, which includes Horen and Shekhan.

Many of the protesters Rudaw spoke with believe the companies fabricated the statement in order to divide the protesters, but they had no evidence for this, just deep resentment against the oil industry and the KRG. Protest organizers said Gazprom Neft refused to speak with them on the orders of the KRG.

“Democracy means the will of the people - that when we the people say no, it should mean no,” said Ala. “Our message is clear: we don’t negotiate. Negotiation is for those people who are willing to make compromises - we don’t compromise. We don’t make any deals with the company. They should just leave!”

The crowd negotiated for several minutes on setting the deadline for the company to leave. The suggestions were between one week to one month, finally agreeing on October 20. But that time the company must leave or “legal” options would be used. They did not specify what these were.

A press release by the Council questioned the KRG’s oil policy. “The people of Kurdistan know the oil of Kurdistan is sold through pipelines, trucks and by people with their own interests while the miserable people of Kurdistan, who are the real owners of the oil, have not got any benefit from selling it,” it said.

It also spoke against the KRG policy of independently exporting oil without the permission of Baghdad.

“We all know that even if the Kurdistan Region does not export one barrel of oil, it can get its 17 per cent share of the budget by law… That is why we believe it’s better for Kurdistan to limit its exports at 400,000 bpd (barrels per day) and take its 17 per cent… and stop current and future explorations,” said the press release.

The protesters responded to a call to accompany Ali to protect him from arrest as he made his way back to the mountains.