Shafaq News- Basra

Employees of Basra Oil Company on Monday closed the Al-Mirbad gate at the Burjesiya site, the entrance to BP's facility, in protest over delayed payments and an unresolved land allocation, vowing to keep it shut until their demands are met.

Ahmed Ali, a representative of the employees, told Shafaq News that the protesters want the rest of their 2024 dues paid and their 2025 dues settled in full. They are also demanding that authorities finalize the distribution of 8,000 dunams (about 2,000 hectares) of land allocated to them in the Al-Sabkh area and hand over title deeds.

The demands also include three fingerprint check-ins a day for shift workers, wider and larger incentive points covering all staff, and payment of other outstanding entitlements. Ali urged the Oil Ministry and other authorities to intervene.

Separately, Basra Provincial Council head Khalaf Al-Badran held a closed meeting with representatives of protesters in Al-Sadiq district, attended by a ministerial delegation sent by Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi. The delegation is led by the oil minister and includes the ministers of construction and housing and of planning. It arrived in Basra on Monday morning to hear protesters' demands in the province's north.

Protests have spread across northern Basra in recent days. Protests in Al-Sadiq have continued for more than five days near the West Qurna 1 oil field, and hundreds in neighboring Al-Deir began an open-ended sit-in on Saturday, demanding better services, jobs and the completion of delayed projects.

 1 Iraqi dunam = 2,500 m²