50 local residents report burns and skin lesions after wastewater spill and oil pipe leak. Glencore ignored reports of serious injuries to local residents in Chad living near its Badila oilfield following a September 2018 wastewater spill and oil pipe leak, a new report published today reveals. The Badila oilfield is operated by PetroChad Mangara Ltd, a 100%-owned subsidiary of Glencore...

The report by corporate watchdog, RAID, describes the collapse on 10 September 2018 of a basin holding produced water, a by-product of crude oil production. The wastewater poured into the local Nya Pende River, crucial for the daily life of thousands of local residents. Two weeks later the situation was aggravated further when local residents noticed a crude oil leak from Glencore’s oil feeder pipe near to the river...

“Glencore repeatedly turned a blind eye to reports of dozens of injuries from local residents, simply ignoring the complaints as if they were of no consequence,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, the Executive Director of RAID. “Local people believe toxic substances after the spill and/or the oil pipe leak are responsible, but 16 months later Glencore still hasn’t concluded a thorough and independent investigation.”...

According to residents, Glencore’s wastewater basin had been leaking weeks before it collapsed, but the company failed to properly address the problem. Glencore unsuccessfully sought to persuade local chiefs and the Chadian government to allow a controlled release, but it provided no proof the wastewater was harmless and its request was refused...

Glencore refutes that the spill posed a health risk and said the wastewater from the basin was predominately rainwater. In written correspondence with RAID and in an October 2019 meeting, the company said it based this conclusion on a sample taken from the basin on the day of the spill, which “was found to be within the limits required by the International Finance Corporation’s performance standards.”...