An oil industry loophole is allowing major companies to bank
profits from their operations in Iraq while not declaring huge
levels of emissions from those fields, according to a new
investigation by Unearthed.
BP has failed to report massive flaring emissions from one of its
projects in Iraq - equivalent to the annual emissions of over
970,000 petrol cars. BP jointly owns the Rumaila operating
company - but denies responsibility for its emissions.
Gas is released during oil production. In much of the world,
after processing, this gas would be used for power generation or
reinjected to force more oil out of the ground. But in some
places, a lack of infrastructure means it has nowhere to go and
so is set alight or vented into the atmosphere. In Iraq, a
country impoverished by war, the vast majority of gas produced
during oil production is flared. This is not only wasteful but
causes problems for local people and the planet by contributing
to climate change.
Big oil companies routinely underreport climate-wrecking
emissions by omitting non-operated joint ventures from official
climate impact reports. Unearthed identified
that flaring emissions are totally unreported in the
Rumaila and Zubair fields in Iraq, where BP and Eni hold stakes
and make millions of dollars each year.
Unearthed’s investigation found:
- Based on its ownership of the operating
company, BP’s share of flaring for the Rumaila field was
equivalent to 4.52m tonnes of CO2 in 2021;
- This amounts to double the UK oil industry’s
total flaring emissions for that year (UK flaring emissions for
2021m were 2.9m tonnes CO2e, according
to Unearthed’s analysis of World Bank data);
- If Rumaila flaring were included in BP’s
official reports, its flaring figure for
2021 would be double.
Unearthed has passed its findings onto the BBC, as
part of a separate BBC investigation that will be published later
today.
Revelations about the massive hidden emissions and
misleading reporting practices prompted outrage from
campaigners who accused companies of trying to appear ‘woke’
in the West while making no effort to become any less dirty in
the Global South.
Ahmed El Droubi, Regional Campaigns Manager at Greenpeace
Middle East & North
Africa, said:
“Not only is BP brazenly wrecking the climate through these
polluting fossil fuel projects, it’s also forcing communities in
Iraq to pay a devastating price. Meanwhile, rich Western
shareholders further line their pockets with BP’s obscene
profits, leaving local communities with few so-called economic
benefits. It’s time the UK government held these dirty polluters
to account through significantly ramping up taxes on their
enormous windfalls. As well as supporting UK households
struggling with their energy bills, these funds should go
directly towards countries in the Global South to deal with
climate impacts and assist the transition to a renewable future.
This is part of the Global North’s historic responsibility for
causing the climate emergency from which we are all now
suffering.”
Rosie Rogers, head of Greenpeace UK’s climate team,
said:
“If BP were hiding emissions on this scale and trashing the local
environment in this way in the UK, they’d face public outcry.
They wouldn’t get away with it just because they don’t operate
the oil field. What’s worse, BP is making no effort to get its
pollution under control in Iraq despite the serious impact on
people living there and the climate. The oil giant is trying to
appear ‘woke’ in the West while remaining dirty in the Global
South - but this needs to be called out for what it is. It’s
racism woven into corporate behaviour. Shareholders and voters
must not stand for it a second longer.”
BP had 46.7% stake in the Rumaila field, about 30 miles from
Basra as of June 2022. It has since been spun off into the Basra
Energy Company, which is jointly run by BP and PetroChina with
input from an Iraqi firm. The field is one of the largest in the
world and produces 1.45 million barrels of oil a day. It
generated $358m in post-tax profit for BP in 2020, according to
the most recent company filings.
There is no official, publicly available record of gas flaring at
Rumaila, or any of Iraq’s oil infrastructure. But BP’s share of
flaring emissions from Rumaila — based on its
equity stake in the field of
46.7% — stood at 4.52m tonnes CO2e in
2021, according to satellite data collected from the World
Bank. Unearthed checked the World Bank's
figures with those from other organisations that track
flaring.
In a statement regarding its work in Iraq, BP
told Unearthed: “In line with standard practice
across the oil and gas industry, BP reports flaring from
activities where we are the operator and emissions data from
activities where we operate or have an ownership interest. BP
does not have any ownership interest in the Rumaila field, or any
right to the oil it produces, and has never been its operator.
Its flaring and operational data are therefore not included in
our reporting. We are paid a fee for the technical services we
provide at Rumaila, which we have taken as allocations of oil –
these are included in our reporting.”
ENDS
Read the
full Unearthed investigation here [available here
from 00:01am tonight]
