Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — Fresh oil spills from a facility operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited have rocked Obolo-Ogale community, in the Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The spills, according to locals which became noticeable on Friday, occurred near the Ebubu community, in the same Ogale community where its underground water is contaminated with benzene, as captured by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP.
Confirming the development, the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, said the spill has been duly reported to the agency.
Zonal Director of NOSDRA, Mr. Ime Ekanem, said a Joint Investigation Visit has been scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, with the operator, host community and officials of Rivers State Ministry of Environment.
Meanwhile, the Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, said Shell was on the said pipeline throughout December 2023 carrying out maintenance work, alleging that Shell’s excavator must have punctured the pipeline since it was not in use.
Executive Director of YEAC-Nigeria, Mr Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, recalled that UNEP found benzene 900 times above the World Health Organization’s standard underground water in Nsisioken-Ogale due to crude oil spills, as published on August 4th, 2011 by UNEP in the Ogoni Environmental Assessment Report.
Fyneface lamented that SPDC was currently in a legal battle with the Ogale community at the court in the United Kingdom, over multiple crude oil spills in the community, saying that it was regrettable that more pollution was still taking place in Ogale.
He charged NOSDRA to ensure the spill is cleaned up and the environment restored before the exit of SPDC, “following its ongoing plans to divest its onshore facilities in Nigeria and escape from its pollution footprints and liabilities from decades of oil exploration in the Niger Delta.”
“Shell was on the pipeline in December 2023 carrying out some maintenance work, and along the way, their excavators must have punctured some pipes unknowingly to them as the pipeline was shut down from crude oil transportation during the period of the maintenance work.
“Believing that the maintenance work has been completed successfully, Shell, on Friday, January 19, commenced the transportation of crude oil through the pipeline, leading to leakage and massive crude oil spill into the environment.
“The spill point has heaps of sand, the evacuated points were yet to be covered, and crude oil is oozing out of the pipeline under the ground uncontrollably,” Yeac-Nigeria said.
