Question 13300 — environment

Summary

Mr. Thomas Portes questions the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty on the compliance of the activities of the largest French oil multinational operating in the Hawizeh marshes, in the south of Iraq, with the obligations arising from the 2017 law relating to the duty of vigilance. The Hawizeh Marshes are part of the Ahwar of southern Iraq, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016 and recognized as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention in 2007. According to a report published in January 2026 by the NGO CCFD-Terre Solidaire, these marshes are today surrounded by several oil fields, including the Halfaya field located in the province of Maysan. This field covers approximately 288 km² and produces nearly 400,000 barrels of oil per day, for an initial target of 535,000 barrels per day. Extraction requires the injection of volumes of water estimated between 1.5 and 2 barrels of water for one barrel of oil extracted. The Halfaya field is operated by an international consortium including a French company holding 22.5% of the shares, alongside other international and public players. Decisions are taken unanimously. The aforementioned report also indicates that the site's flares emitted the equivalent of 23.8 million tonnes of CO2 between 2012 and 2022, including 3 million for the year 2022 alone. Furthermore, 7,735 cases of cancer were recorded in the province of Maysan between January and September 2025, a figure significantly higher than previous official data. Local populations are observing a massive drying of the marsh as well as the sudden and massive death of fish and other animals. The law of March 27, 2017 relating to the duty to Vigilance requires large French companies to identify and prevent serious violations of human rights and the environment resulting from their activities, including when carried out abroad. In view of these elements, the MP alerts the Minister to the social, health and environmental risks posed to the local ecosystem by the activities in the Hawizeh marsh of the largest company French oil company. He questions him about the actions that his ministry intends to implement in order to ensure that the said company's commitments in terms of duty of vigilance are respected. He calls on the urgency to act in favor of a specific assessment of the risks linked to the oil exploitation of this marsh, recognized as a world heritage site. Finally, he questions him about the number of controls or formal notices actually initiated. since 2017 under the duty of vigilance concerning extractive activities carried out abroad by French companies.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

Timeline

1. 3 March 2026

   Question

   Source: DateQuestion

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

• Thomas Portes · auteur

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.