RPG attack on Sudan’s Balila oil field

Sudan’s Oil Workers Association reports that a number of rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) fell in Block 6 of the Balila oil field in West Kordofan on Thursday evening, in a new incident of sabotage targeting the Sudanese oil infrastructure.

Last month, a major section of the Khartoum Petroleum Refinery that processes Nile Blend crude oil has been shut down after sabotage to the pipeline in the area of Kharasana in Keilak, West Kordofan.

Oil fields in West Kordofan earlier witnessed a series of sabotage incidents that led to a partial halt in production and transportation of petrol to Khartoum and Port Sudan.

Last week, the deputy head of the Sovereignty Council, Mohamed ‘Hemeti’ Dagalo confirmed the justice of the protestors’ cause in the oil areas, indicating that the fields were established in the pastures without providing an adequate alternative.

Regarding the impact of the oil fields on the environment, the Demanding Bodies Association (DBA) has recently carried out a research of the oil fields in West Kordofan and East Darfur to examine the impact of the oil industry on humans and animals.

Howeida Abdelrahman Saleh, secretary of the DBA Environment and Natural Resources Committee and the head of the Association of People Affected by the Oil Industry, said in a statement on its Facebook page that the environmental impact study includes the areas of Heglig, Fama, Neim, Dafra, El Dayer, El Khurasan and Bambo.

She explained that members of the committee collected soil, water, human and livestock samples based on private observations.

They further conducted a veterinary examination of a herd affected by an epidemic in the area of Bambo, which caused the death of 14 cows, to find out the connection with the effects of the oil industry activities, and said that it would later publish the results of the examinations.