A petroleum ministry official has admitted that oil companies before and after independence have done nothing to stop environmental damage caused by oil extraction, while pledging to do better in the future.

Speaking Monday at Juba Grand Hotel during the launch of the new Petroleum Health, Safety, and Environmental Management System, the ministry's first undersecretary Machar Aciek Ader said the Petroleum Act is not being implemented in regard to environmental protection.

Scientific studies have linked oil exploration and extraction to polluting groundwater in South Sudan. Civilians living near oil facilities have blamed oil activities for causing diseases in cattle and humans besides causing miscarriages among women.

Machar said the environmental harm done by oil extraction in South Sudan began during the Second Sudanese Civil War because no environmental impact assessment was completed before production began.

"Most of the environment was damaged during the war time," he explained. "Then came the time of interim period. The interim period was supposed to rectify all what happened during the time of war, unfortunately nothing was done."

He said after independence, oil companies worked in areas under transitional agreements rather than using the Petroleum Act of 2012.

"When the laws were out we were supposed to have operationalized them," the undersecretary said. "We had a time when we locked the oil into the ground for one and a half years, and nothing was done during that time [to operationalize the laws]."

"As we speak today there is no any single block which has been awarded to any investor according to the Petroleum Act 2012," he said. Machar said the affected regions are contract areas 3 and 7 in norther Upper Nile; 1, 2, and 4 in Unity; and block 5A in Unity.

Machar said the ministry would begin to operationalize the Petroleum Act to safeguard the environment if the compromise peace deal is implemented. The Monday gathering at Juba Grand launched a workshop to bring together recommendations to enhance implementation of environmental plans.

"South Sudan is not the only country where oil is being produced without regards to environment," Machar said. "We would like to make sure that environment is taken care of properly and there is nothing which can prevent us from implementing the right steps for the management of the environment while we extract oil."

Photo: Sudd Petroleum Operating Company equipment leaking oil at Thar Jath oilfield, Unity State, February 2015