Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Over 42 months after, the fire outbreak which occurred on Ororo-1 Well, a marginal field within Chevron Nigeria Limited’s operated OML95 in Ilaje, Ondo State, following a blowout from Grace-1 hydraulic workover rig, is still raging.
This is the case despite claims that the fire outbreak which began on 17th May 2020 off the coast of Awoye community, Ilaje LGA of Ondo State had been stopped after six weeks. However, a report by the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, HOMEF, affirmed that the fire continues to burn at the time of filing this report.
In May 2020, the fire incident was said to have broken out while a work-over jack-up barge was carrying out wireline operation on the well, according to the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA.
The operator of Ororo field, Guarantee Petroleum Limited and Owena Oil and Gas Limited, according to NOSDRA had engaged Haliburton and Chevron Nigeria Limited to help in extinguishing the fire and estimates that it will take six weeks to quell it.
Ororo, a marginal field discovered in 1968, is owned by Guarantee Petroleum Limited and Owena Oil and Gas Limited, in shallow water with depths ranging between 23ft and 27 ft offshore Ondo State, within OML95 owned by CNL. It was one of those whose license was considered by the Federal Government for revocation in 2020.
Meanwhile, HOMEF in a YouTube documentary has described the ongoing inferno in Ororo-1 as a tragic odyssey of injustice and environmental destruction.
The documentary showed that the fire still burns viciously day and night, harming the marine ecosystem and disrupting fishing and other economic activities of the nearby communities.
Executive Director of HOMEF, Dr Nnimmo Bassey, regretted that for over three years, the Ororo -1 Well in OML95 has been burning with no attention from the Federal Government or the company responsible for it.
Bassey stressed that it was not accidental for the government to have ignored the inferno in Awoye coastline for over 42 months, adding that the government and the oil companies simply do not care about Nigerians or the ecosystem, hence the reason life expectancy in the Niger Delta is 41years.
“Awoye community’s tale is a sad example of a healthy region turned into a sacrifice zone by the pursuit of fossil fuels. The burning well has now become a symbol of ecocide and outright neglect by the Nigerian state.
“Field data reports show that the reservoir pressure was 8,000 pounds per square inch and above, and surface pressure was about 4,600 psi during the incident. It’s a widely held view by a range of technical specialists in the industry that such a highly pressured well should not have been re-entered with a workover rig with less than adequate blowout preventer.
“Whatever the case, the raging fire at Awoye needs to be quenched. This tragic incident compounds the climate crisis and harms the communities and ecosystems in multiple ways.
“Stopping the flaming well isn’t rocket science. What is needed is an understanding that the cost of this unattended disaster is far higher than the cost of drilling relief wells and other actions to quench the flames and save the communities.
“Now is the time to end dependence on fossil fuels and leave the oil on the ground while ramping up investment in renewables.”
