Shell blames oil thieves for leak in Bayelsa community

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) has said that the reported oil spill from its facility in Imiringi community in Bayelsa was caused by oil thieves.

The company said that it carried out a Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) into the July 27 oil spill.

The JIV, is a statutory probe that follows  every reported spill incident by regulators, operators, and community representatives to ascertain the cause, volume of spill and impacted area.

Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager of SPDC in a statement on Wednesday in Yenagoa,  said that three barrels of SPDC’s Bonny light crude blend was spilled into the environment.

Although members of the Imiringi community had claimed that the spill had polluted farmlands and water bodies in the area, SPDC said  the entire three barrels had been recovered,  leaving a residue.

“SPDC, operator of the SPDC JV, acknowledges the occurrence of an oil spill from its ’’ Kolo creek Well 22T flowline facility at Imiringi on July 27,

“The report of the joint investigation of the incident led by the Government Regulator, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), found that the incident was caused by illegal third-party activity.

“Meanwhile, cleanup, remediation and repair of the breached pipeline are ongoing.” the SPDC  said.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the JIV ended on July 30,  with all parties unanimously agreeing on the cause while repairs on the breached pipeline are ongoing.

According to SPDC, the JIV team comprised of the Government Regulator, Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).

Also on the team are the State Ministry of Environment, representatives of the impacted community and SPDC.

The oil firm stated that the outcome and report of the investigation, led by the Regulator, NOSDRA, was signed off by all members of the JIV team.

It will be recalled that environmental advocacy group, Environmental Defenders Network had called for clean up of the spill site to forestall possible spread to other communities in the area.

Chief Lagos Morris, Deputy Director of the group who visited the spill site, urged the relevant authorities to see to the remediation of the impacted area in view of the rains.

Morris, who called on all stakeholders to work towards preventing third party spills, condemned the act and urged that the perpetrators be fished out and prosecuted.