Russian Zarubezneft oil refinery in Bosnia, cross border environment impact?

Zarubezneft Russia owned Brod oil refinery in Bosnia beside the producing losses also have a pressure from environment advocacy groups that it pollutes the neighboring Croatia cities.

Optima group owned by Russian company ˝Zarubezhneft˝ , which runs the oil refinery in Brod, rejected the accusations that they are responsible for the increasing air pollution in Croatian city of Slavonski Brod.

In the press release it says that the refinery has been in the process of the overhaul for several months now, and since it has not been working it cannot be responsible for the pollution.

“We would like to stress the fact that the Oil Refinery Brod has been shut down and it has been out of operation since December 12, 2015, while it would start operating again on January 27, 2016. Having in mind that the Oil Refinery Brod has not been working in the period when there were continous reports about the air pollution in Slavonski Brod, it is evident that the complaints regarding the operation of the Oil Refinery in Brod are unfounded” it says in the press release from Optima Group.

They remind us that a working group has been formed on the level of the ministry of the Republic Srpska, BIH and the ministry of ecology of the Republic Croatia, which is in session twice a year in order to promote the safety of the environment, so the Oil Refinery in Brod is conducting regularly all the ecological procedures and fulfills all the ecological standards.

Optima adds that air pollution in Slavonski Brod by particulates PM-10 and PM-2.5 in the amount bigger than the tolerance values happens during the heating season, when in the area of Brod and Slavonski brod boiler rooms and personal furnaces belonging to the citizens start working. Besides the emission of gasses coming from cars and use of salt and sand to maintain the roads also impact the increase of the particles concentration.

MP of the European Parliament from Croatia Tonino Picula asked the European Commission to react in connection to the air pollution in Slavonski Brod and blamed the refinery for it.