– Spills from abandoned Shell well threatens HYPREP cleanup progress
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A fresh oil spill has struck Kpean Community in Ken-Khana, Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State, threatening ongoing clean-up efforts in Ogoniland and raising fresh concerns over proposed oil production resumption in the region.
The Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre, YEAC-Nigeria, confirmed the spill to our correspondent, through its Crude Oil Spill Alert System, COSAS, and One Million Youth Volunteers Network.
According to YEAC, the spill originated from a wellhead in the controversial Oil Mining Lease, OML11 oil field, abandoned by Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, since 1993.
While the exact location remains under dispute, two traditional rulers in the area gave conflicting accounts, one identified Oil Well 2 as the source, the other said it was Oil Well 4. Both wells are part of the 16-well cluster left dormant after Shell was declared persona non grata by the Ogoni people.
YEAC-Nigeria’s Executive Director, Dr. Fyneface Dumnamene Fyneface, described the development as a major environmental setback, especially amid the federal government’s push to restart oil production in Ogoni.
“This recent spill complicates ongoing clean-up efforts by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project, HYPREP,” he said.
Local youth volunteers deployed by YEAC reported that pressure sounds were emanating from the wellhead days before the incident, indicating possible equipment failure.
“This suggests that crude oil was struggling to emerge from the sealed wellhead despite the ‘killing’ of oil wells in the area by SPDC in 2011,” the group said in a statement.
The incident, which has raised community anxiety, comes at a time when HYPREP is still grappling with legacy contamination across Ogoniland, nearly a decade after the United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, report recommended urgent remediation measures.
YEAC-Nigeria has called on the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, to immediately launch a Joint Investigation Visit, JIV, to determine the exact cause, volume, and impact of the spill.
“We urge NOSDRA to swiftly intervene and conduct a transparent JIV on the spill site. The people of Ogoni cannot afford another environmental disaster,” Fyneface stressed.
This spill reopens the debate about the readiness of Ogoniland for any form of oil production resumption and may further heighten opposition from local communities and civil society groups.
