Authors: Elira Kadriu, Entenela Ndrevataj | Citizens.al
While oil companies reap huge profits from the Patos-Marinëza oilfield – even avoiding taxes – residents suffer pollution, disease, unemployment, and abandonment by the state.
In Zharrëz, the stream where children once bathed has become a cesspool of hydrocarbon waste. Residents, with their eyes on exile, express their despair at the fact that the oil industry has become a stigma for them.
They say that no one buys their land, houses, and agricultural products for fear that they are contaminated and that life near wells is a "clock mine" for health.
Oil "flows like a river""
The Patos-Marinëz zone is not a geographical area, but an expression from the oil industry that identifies the largest oil-bearing area in Albania.
It extends from the city of Patos to the village of Marinëz in the northeast and includes other villages such as Kuqar, Dukas, Sheqishte, Verbas, Zharrëz, etc.
This area has been exploited for oil for about a century, with the first excavations dating back to 1918.
During the dictatorship, the oil field was intensively exploited by state-owned enterprises. After the 90s, the area attracted the interest of foreign companies.
Today, two main companies operate there: Albpetrol, a joint-stock company owned by the Albanian state, and Bankers Petroleum, owned by the Chinese corporation Geo-Jade Petroleum.
But despite having a rich subsoil, the residents of the Patos-Marinëz area have never felt its value, quite the opposite.
On September 11, the Citizens.al team was in the village of Zharrëza where they visited some of the residents and observed the degraded state of the environment.
There was an oil spill in the village stream, which had flowed from the drainage channels for tens of meters, significantly disturbing the nearby residents. But, as they expressed it, it was not an isolated case.
"That water was used to wash dishes, for daily use. I myself washed there, along with my peers, until I was 12-13 years old," local activist, Saimir Dine, said.
Representatives from Albpetrol also arrived on the scene to inspect the situation. Citizens.al asked them if the spills were coming from their gas station, about 400 meters away. But they denied the connection and refused to provide official comment.
Our visit continued. About 700 meters southeast of the Zharrëza stream bridge, we encountered a sight not at all worthy of the oil industry: a well with tanks and rusty pipes that gave the idea of an old, non-functional ruin. Next to them, from a small building, a guard, sleepy from duty, asked what we were interested in.
We counted eight houses within a 35-meter radius of this well. Dashnor Xhepaj, a resident of one of them, expressed his outrage that he is seriously considering abandoning everything he has built in his lifetime and emigrating.
"I've thought, I'm going to go abroad and never come here again," he said as he emphasized that even his children, who are in exile, do not want to come to Zharrëz.
The residents of the area suffer from the stigma of agricultural products, which they are forced to not only consume for themselves, but also to have as a main source of income. One of them said that they have to hide the origin of the products in the market, otherwise they will not be sold.
“When they sell fruit and vegetables, villagers don't say they're from Zharrëza. No one buys them if they find out they're from here,” he stressed.
Silent relocation
In an open survey by Citizens.al, completed physically and online by dozens of residents of Zharrëza, around 91% of those interviewed admitted that they have considered leaving the area, but relocation seems financially impossible.
"If no one buys the houses, the land, I'll leave tomorrow, but who will take them, who will come here?!" asks Hajdar Baha, a resident of the area near the Zharrëza stream.
Meanwhile, Dallandyshe Muço confesses that she barely rebuilt her house after the 2015 explosions. Now, after huge expenses, relocation is almost impossible for her.
"With these Canadian explosions (the former owners of Bankers) they didn't give us money to build our houses. My walls fell down, I rebuilt them with my own sweat," she pointed out.
The case that Muço mentioned referred to the event of April 1, 2015, when two wells of “Bankers” exploded, endangering the lives of many residents. The company's activity was temporarily suspended.
The government declared that the company was “100% responsible” and was supposed to compensate the residents, as well as present rehabilitation plans. But apparently, those remained declarations.
Health: The invisible cost of the oil industry
In the Citizens.al survey, 40% of respondents ranked health problems as the biggest challenge of living in the Zharrëza area. Around 60% chose the option “combined problems”: noise pollution, environmental pollution and health consequences.
"A resident of the community, as soon as he goes to visit the Fier clinic, when he says he is from Zharrëza, the doctors raise their hands up," says Qani Rredhi from the "Center for Civic Initiatives for Environmental Protection".
The story shows that in 2023 the community of the area suffered a tragic moment where in a span of just two months, 12 deaths from cancer were recorded. He says that the main cause of these diseases is pollution and "phenols in the blood".
"I spent more than 10 thousand euros on health," claimed one of the interviewees in the Citizens.al online survey.
Almost every family in Patos-Marinëz has been affected: either by health problems themselves, or by the financial cost of helping relatives. Saimir Dine mentions his brother, who suffers from bronchial asthma.
"The pollution has left its mark on my brother's health. He has left here, he is never coming back. Every time he comes, he is attacked," says Dine.
Medicine shelves have become part of the furnishings in every home in Zharrëza and the villages of the Patos-Marinëz area.
"At five in the morning, the smell is at its worst. If you open the doors, it's unbearable. Just a headache, with paracetamol!" describes the state of the environment near his house, Hajdar Baha.
In 2023, Citizens.al reported the case of The Poshnarit Valley, which claims three miscarriages occurred due to high pollution in the area.
Public authorities do not conduct environmental monitoring due to legal shortcomings and limitations. The National Environmental Agency confirmed to Citizens.al that general data on the situation is obtained from self-monitoring reports submitted by companies every three months.
Protests and suspicious background
On September 5, 2025, employees of “Bankers Petroleum” they went out in protest, demanding better wages and decent working conditions. The company is currently under tax evasion investigation.
While the Citizens team was on the ground, the oilmen confirmed that they had entered into talks for an agreement, but by the time of publishing this article, nothing had been made official.
Environmental experts also raise concerns about the connections between local companies and local government.
"Budgets for the community are passed on to municipalities. Even so, those budgets are misused. We are here, we have seen it. In the last month of the electoral campaign, 'Bankers Petroleum' paved roads," emphasizes Qani Rredhi.
From 2004 until the end of 2024, Bankers declared losses every year in the balance sheets submitted to Albanian authorities. But an investigation by the Fier Prosecutor's Office revealed that the company had sales and exports worth over 532 billion lek - around 5.3 billion euros.
According to Rredhi, residents always suspected abuses by Bankers, but had not imagined the extent of the damage alleged by the investigations, which suggest that the company evaded profit tax and received unjustified VAT refunds.
So far, 14 security measures have been issued, of which 9 have been executed, while 5 people – mostly foreigners – have been declared wanted.
As of the time of publication of this article, the companies Albpetrol and Bankers Petroleum did not respond to official questions directed by the Citizens.al editorial team.
