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Law firm seeks to end chronic hazard linked to increased levels of PAHs, rates of cancer and respiratory illness and environmental devastation near Basra, Iraq
Lawyers at Hagens Berman EMEA have sent a letter before action giving notice to British Petroleum and other parties of intended legal proceedings regarding an alleged chronic ecological and human health hazard near Basra, Iraq stemming from gas flaring emissions at BP,OTC:BPAQF's Rumaila oilfield , one of the world's largest.
"Our clients' communities have become a catacomb."
A nighttime video sent to the firm's legal team pans and zooms into the bright flame in the near distance, billowing black smoke. Of Hagens Berman EMEA's nine initial clients, two have lost husbands and one has lost a daughter, all to forms of cancer allegedly caused by flaring and toxic pollutants.
"When our client opens the door of his home, he is struck by the always-illuminated flaming tower on the horizon – the ominous gas flare that streaks the skies with black smoke, filled with toxic chemicals actively destroying his homeland," said Steve W. Berman, managing partner and co-founder of Hagens Berman. "Our clients' communities have become a catacomb."
The same gas flares close to the client's home are visible from space and are part of one of the largest oilfields in the world, Rumaila, where from 2021 to 2025 BP,OTC:BPAQF along with Basra Energy Company Ltd have produced more than 1.3 million barrels of oil daily.
The firm's clients have endured toxic emissions from the Rumaila oilfield nearly constantly where flaring, or the burning of natural gas released in the process of oil production has blanketed the surrounding habitation in a toxic haze of chemicals including benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Flaring emits carcinogenic compounds linked to leukaemia, other cancers and respiratory conditions like asthma. Cases of gas flaring have been documented a mere 250 meters from the residences of surrounding communities.
Because of this pollution, residents of Rumaila routinely refer to their home as "the cemetery," where families face the grief of caring for their children with cancer and the overwhelming devastation of their premature deaths.
"Our clients, two of whom are currently suffering from leukaemia, live under the constant visible threat of gas flaring, like a toxic Eye of Sauron, a polluting panopticon, leaching horrible toxins into the air around the clock," Berman said. "Its effects are real and allegedly lead to premature deaths and lifelong illness. This community is grief stricken."
"BP,OTC:BPAQF struck oil in Eden..."
The land surrounding BP,OTC:BPAQF's oil stations near Basra is ironically close to what many consider to be the metaphorical cite of heaven on earth, Eden, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In memories shared by residents whose families have inhabited the area generationally, what was once a thriving area of wildlife and flora has since been decimated by pollution.
Despite the knowledge that gas flaring is said to cause serious harms to human health and the environment, BP,OTC:BPAQF has allegedly failed to honor a pledge to limit flaring to emergency use. Hagens Berman EMEA's letter before action states that a constant feature of production operations at the Rumaila oilfield since 2009 has been routine non-emergency flaring near residential communities.
Instead of safely capturing, storing and processing associated gas, defendants made a deliberate choice to adopt, or failed to prevent the adoption of, a practice of routine flaring in order to maximise production, minimise cost and maximise profit from operations without any regard to the impacts on local communities or the environment, the letter alleges.
"BP,OTC:BPAQF struck oil in Eden, and we believe it has done everything in its power to destroy it," Berman said. "Many families in this area have lived here for generations and predate the oilfields, BP,OTC:BPAQF's big business and all of the destruction that came with it."
While the communities surrounding the oil field suffer from rolling blackouts and power shortages, as the World Bank highlights, "[f]laring and venting are a waste of a valuable natural resource that should either be used for productive purposes, such as generating power, or conserved."
In 2021, the BBC reported that the Rumaila oilfield was that world's largest source of flaring in the world, and according to the World Bank's tracking of global gas flare emissions, Rumaila – among thousands of oilfields globally – accounted for 1.87-3.13% of global gas flaring volume from 2012 to 2024 as a single oil field.
"This community's cries for help have fallen on deaf ears."
As families living near Rumaila allegedly endure cancer, headaches, vomiting, breathing difficulties, and disrupted sleep, as well as the loss of livestock, crops and the ability to enjoy life outside their homes, BP,OTC:BPAQF plc reported $192.5 billion global operations revenue in 2025.
"This community's cries for help have fallen on deaf ears," Berman said. "When the company responsible allegedly ignores requests for help paying the medical bills for children dying of cancer as a direct result of gas flaring operations, who can they turn to?"
Claimants intend to file proceedings in England and Wales in respect to these harms under English law pertaining to negligence, private nuisance, public nuisance and unlawful conspiracy, while lawyers at Hagens Berman EMEA remain prepared to bring equivalent causes of action under Iraqi law if necessary.
Hagens Berman EMEA is a UK-based legal team affiliated with globally renowned U.S. class-action law firm Hagens Berman. Together, the acclaimed group of lawyers and experts in emissions litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, and EU regulation champions the rights of those most in need. The firm dedicates itself to achieving meaningful results through its specialisation in complex legal cases designed to help benefit large groups afflicted by widescale wrongdoing and injustice. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at hbemealaw.com .
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