TL: SHELL DOUBLE STANDARDS AND ETHICS POLLUTING AN AQUIFER IN TURKEY SO: Greenpeace Mediterranean, (GP) DT: March 21, 1996 Keywords: environment oil energy shell transnationals turkey europe / GREENPEACE SUMMARY Greenpeace is in possession of a number of confidential internal reports and memos, written over a number of years by employees of N.V. Turkse Shell oil company (Shell's company operating in Turkey). These demonstrate some of the environmental and safety standards which Shell operate in that country. A specific case of systematic pollution is illustrated as the documents reveal how Shell has been injecting huge amounts of contaminated water into an aquifer in the Diyarbakir area in eastern Turkey for over 20 years. This is the Midyat aquifer which is a potable water supply. The documents not only reveals that this practice has been ongoing, but that Shell were aware that it is against European Union (EU) regulations. Furthermore, the documents show that it is mainly relatively small cost savings which prevented Shell from stopping the practice. In some of the documents it is acknowledged that there is a potential threat to the water supply of the city of Diyarbakir over future generations. About two million people live today in Diyarbakir. The solution to the problem is to inject the produced water back into the Mardin oil reservoir, from which the water originally came and funding was allocated to change the injection from the aquifer to the oil reservoir, however, funding for this project was cancelled. Extracted crude oil usually contains water. An operating company splits the water from the crude with the help of solvents and other chemicals. The production water, which is contaminated with crude oil and chemicals, is then normally injected into the oil resevoir - and not into an aquifer. THE POLLUTION OF MIDYAT AQUIFER Internal memos from 1986 and 1987 signed by the then General Manager, C. E. Fay, identified the problem and called for increasing efforts to resolve it. Subsequently, in 1991, the General Directorate of Petroleum Affairs (GDPA) in Turkey wrote to Shell and demanded: "In order to stop contamination in the Midyat aquifer you are emphatically requested to ensure that henceforth the necessary measures are urgently taken to have the disposal waters injected into the Mardin Formation through the wells that have ceased production, making sure that disposal waters are not injected into the Midyat Formation, and to inform GDPA about the matter." Above the Midyat aquifer is a geological gravel formation called Selmo, through which the wells have to be drilled in order to reach the aquifer (a diagrammatic cross-section of the area is in one of the reports.) Other memos note that drilling muds have been lost into this formation and that, because of corrosion of the pipelines, it is possible that produced water has also contaminated the Selmo. This threatens the local rivers and lakes - in particular a local reservoir called Devegecidi. The alternative to disposal into the Midyat aquifer, as noted in the letter from the authorities, is to re-inject the produced water into the Mardin oil field. It is noted that only "a Mardin disposal scheme ... will give a fully acceptable disposal method satisfying International legislation". Hence a Mardin injection pilot test was being considered in 1989. d "Technical Safety Audit, N.V. Turkse Shell, Production Diyarbakir, Report EP 91-1810, dated September 1991. 11. A letter from EDM, NV Turkse Shell Diyarbakir, to Shell headquarters (EPO/28 SIMP The Hague) in the Netherlands dated 9/9/1994) and signed y D. van Donk. 12. The minutes of an "NVTS Water Injection Follow-up Meeting" held on 18.10.1994. 13. An addendum to the aove minutes, dated 19/10/1994. 14. A memo from "EDR to MEP and EDM", copied to OM, Mr D. Colomb (Perenco NVTS MEP Designate) and Mr, M, Veille (Perenco NVTS OM Designate), dated 22/12/1995 and called "Subject: NVTS Azca Water Disposal Wells". 15. NV Turske Shell Exploration and Development Department report of January 1994 by Neil Harvey, EDR/6 called Water Injection Project. 16. "Technical Safety Audit, N.V. Turske Shell, Production Diyarbakir. Dated Sept 1991 Report EP 91-1810 17. "Exploratio and Production Programme Support 1995" June 1994. MARCH 1996 GREENPEACE MEDITERRANEAN