Syria's oil heartland poisoned by decades of war, neglect, and inaction

"The journey to Deir Az Zor feels like travelling back in time, with few markers of modernity evident as you look out from the road. But then a vast, shimmering body of sludge emerges, a black scar through the beige desert. The smell is a thick, chemical tang of petroleum that coats the back of your throat. It looks almost beautiful, until you remember it is a river of death."

"What spills here is a carcinogenic mix of produced water a byproduct of the oil and gas extraction process and crude oil, which used to be deposited safely underground. But years of war have destroyed the infrastructure that did that, and it has never been repaired. The mixture therefore flows unchecked, 24 hours a day, seeping into the desert soil, where it inches towards the aquifer below and snakes its way closer to the Euphrates River, the lifeblood of Deir Az Zor."

Decades of neglect and years of conflict have destroyed infrastructure that once returned produced water and crude oil underground, causing continuous surface leaks. A carcinogenic mixture of produced water and crude oil now forms vast toxic sludge across Deir Az Zor's desert, emitting a chemical petroleum smell and contaminating soil. The mixture flows unchecked day and night toward the region's aquifer and closer to the Euphrates River, endangering water supplies. Deir Az Zor's long-standing marginalization predates the war and is visible in broken bridges and gutted villages, reflecting governance absence that enabled this environmental disaster.

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