Shafaq News- Basra
Labor unrest escalated at Iraq’s Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) refinery project in Basra on Tuesday as former workers continued blocking the gates of the South Refineries Company, prompting Governor Asaad Al-Eidani to meet protesters.
Shafaq News correspondent reported friction between security forces and demonstrators while former FCC workers maintained a sit-in outside the refinery complex and prevented employees from entering the site, demanding employment within the Oil Ministry after being dismissed following the project’s completion.
More than 350 workers who spent years on the FCC project were removed without permanent employment or guarantees after the unit entered operation, protest representative Ahmed Shaker has told our agency, with demonstrations continuing for more than a year and a half. Closing the refinery gates in recent days was aimed at “pressuring authorities to respond to the workers’ demands.”
Al-Eidani later met protesters inside the company and pledged to follow up on the issue with the Oil Ministry and relevant authorities, according to Shaker.
Iraq’s Oil Ministry has described the FCC project at the South Refineries Company as a key part of plans to end imports of high-octane gasoline and achieve fuel self-sufficiency. Last year, former Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani said the nearly $3.75 billion project would help Iraq reduce fuel imports and expand domestic refining capacity.
Oil-rich southern provinces, particularly Basra, have witnessed recurring protests in recent years, with demonstrators frequently blocking roads leading to oil fields, refinery facilities, and ports over unemployment and poor living conditions despite the region’s vast energy wealth. Iraq’s unemployment rate stood at 15.5% in 2025, according to Trading Economics, while the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has reported 47,000 legally registered foreign workers in the country, even as more than one million Iraqis remain officially unemployed.
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