Oil pollution in Unity state - Courtesy

The Minister of Environment and Forestry said companies hired in 2022 to carry out an environmental audit in the oilfields are yet to submit their reports due to non-payment of their dues by the government.

Josephine Napwon was responding to inquiries from members of the national parliament on the delayed report that was to be released only 90 days from the launch of the audit.

Napwon said the companies contracted were supposed to submit their reports earlier for the ministry to determine whether or not oil firms followed the environmental safety guidelines.

The audit was launched at a time of widespread cases of birth defects in the settlements around oilfields, which have been linked to possible oil pollution.

Napwon said the environment ministry has not received the reports due to a lack of resources to pay the companies.

“The environmental audit is almost to the last stage. Two companies have finished their report but we are left with one company, and the two companies that have finished are supposed to submit their reports.”

“Honorable Speaker, I think there are challenges facing these companies, because when we called them, they gave us an excuse that they were not paid since they started their work.”

“Everything here is about money. The companies are resisting, and they told us they will not come and they will not bring the reports because they were not paid, they are not cleared by the Ministry of Petroleum.”

But contrary to the minister’s claim that the companies were not paid, First Deputy Speaker of the Council of States, Mary Ayen, disagreed.

Ayen said the Joint Operating Companies already contributed money to the Ministry of Petroleum for the environmental audit.

She asked the parliament to question the Ministry of Petroleum about the whereabouts of the money and why the companies were not paid.

“My information is that the JOC (Joint Operating Companies), GPOC, DAR and SPOC have contributed money for environmental audit to the Ministry of Petroleum,” she said.

“It is this House that should question the minister on what they have done with money and why is it not paid.”

Ayen further raised a point of concern, that the government gives foreign companies sensitive contracts that could pose a national security threat.

She did not specify the particular form of threat but suggested that the government should consider contracting national firms on sensitive issues that could pose a danger to the nation.

“Some contracts that are national security threat are given to foreigners. For example; the contract of water treatment, the produced water in the oil-producing companies, these are supposed to be given to the locals.”

“Because we cannot give contracts sensitive contacts to the foreign who are even in the first place polluting the environment.”

In 2022, the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment started an environmental audit on the oilfields in Unity State and Upper Nile State.

The Ministry of Petroleum had announced that it hired three international companies to conduct the environmental audits at Blocks 3 and 7 in Paloch of Upper Nile, and Blocks 1, 2, 4 and 5A in Unity State.

They were tasked to determine the extent of environmental pollution being felt in the areas and recommend best practices to curtail the immense impact on the oil-producing states.

Environmentalists say South Sudan experienced environmental damage, deforestation, soil and water contamination, and health issues in and around the oil-producing areas.