Justice will have to rule on the consequences of TotalEnergies’ activities in Yemen. Around fifty Yemeni nationals in fact summoned the group before the Nanterre judicial court on Tuesday, accusing it of polluting the land and waters of a region of this country neighboring Saudi Arabia, according to their lawyer, confirming information from Chained Duck.
In the summons, the plaintiffs, represented by Mr. Fiodor Rilov, claim to suffer “considerable and permanent damage, direct consequences of oil pollution caused by Total as well as by its established commercial partner Petromasilia” in the desert region of Hadramawt, where the energy giant has been operating oil wells since the 1990s. They denounce an “economic, social, environmental and cultural catastrophe” affecting the land where they live and cultivate.
“Oil spills in the middle of the desert”
Among the harmful consequences of the exploitation of the oil basin, the inhabitants of Yemen mention the contamination of groundwater, the only source of water for the local population, by toxic products “spilled during Total’s repeated failures”.
They also mention “oil spills in the middle of the desert” following incidents on oil pipelines and accuse the group of not responding adequately, which causes, according to them, “repeated floods with each heavy rain” of the hydrocarbon leaked into the earth.
The applicants want TotalEnergies to communicate documents concerning the treatment of produced water, the recycling of oil, injection wells, the recycling of chemical drums as well as the damage to oil pipelines. Their request will be examined on February 1.
Several legal actions against Total
After the publication in the Obs in April 2023 of a report which revealed the pollution of which the multinational is accused in Yemen, the group responded having installed a skimming system making it possible to separate the so-called “production” water, present in the hydrocarbons and gushing during drilling, residual oil, then recycle this oil. TotalEnergies also denied the underground construction of wells used to evacuate excess production water.
This summons is also in addition to legal actions initiated against the energy giant. A complaint for involuntary manslaughter and failure to assist a person in danger was sent on October 9 to the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office against the group by victims of a bloody jihadist attack in March 2021 in Mozambique, where TotalEnergies had to pause a mega- gas project.
Four environmental defense associations (Darwin Climax Coalitions, Sea Shepherd France, Wild Legal and Stop EACOP-Stop Total in Uganda) also filed a criminal complaint on September 22 in Nanterre against TotalEnergies oil projects in Tanzania and in Uganda.