“Our misfortune is to have a village which shelters an oil operator”, sighs the chief of the neighboring village of a flaring site called CB1, belonging to the Perenco oil company. In the Omboué region, in Gabon, it is the only where Perenco recognized a point pollution, which he says he cleaned. In his sector, the village chief says he has observed repeated pollution for twenty years.
In Gabon, Perenco is the leading national oil producer. The low-cost company buys its wells there from Total. Known to all, the company is opposed by some, who accuse it of repeated pollution. These pollution have already weakened the mangrove ecosystems, a refuge for fish and birds. For the fishermen and the inhabitants of the region, they would have a simple explanation: the dilapidated infrastructure of Perenco. The multinational has been extracting oil from sites that have been active since the 1970s.
Facilities invaded by rust … and crabs
This is the case with that of Olendé-Plage, by the ocean. It was drilled by Elf, operated by Total, and today by Perenco. The journalists went there with Bernard Christian Rekoula, a director and activist. To document this pollution, he has been traveling the lagoon for two years.
The place, without surveillance, seems to be abandoned …. However, although rusty, it turns, this wellhead. In the open air, without any protection, cans of chemicals used to clean pipelines. The facilities are invaded by rust … and crabs. “I don’t have to be an expert engineer to know that these are not installations that are up to standard!“exclaims Bernard. According to him, of the ten sites he visited, three quarters are in this state. And Perenco has more than 50 wellheads throughout the region,” he said.
In Gabon, civil society activists and environmental protection associations have come together to file a complaint against Perenco. The tanker says that its facilities are up to standard and regularly revised. This summer, he was indicted by Gabonese justice for pollution.
Extract from “Perenco: the low-cost of oil”, a report to see in “Further investigation”, Thursday, October 21, 2021.
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