*132.1 barrels spilled
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A total of 10 oil spill incidents was recorded by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, SPDC, in the month of September 2020, as a result of oil theft and sabotage.
Data obtained from Shell website shows that between September 1st and September 25th 2020, the Dutch multinational experienced leaks in Abia and Rivers States amounting to 132.1 barrels of crude oil.
The affected facilities in these states include; 12″ Imo River2-Ogale Pipeline, 24” Nkpoku-Bomu Pipeline, 28” Nkpoku-Bomu Pipeline, 16″ Egbema-Assa pipeline, Otamiri well 7S flowline, amongst others.
However, the 20″ Kolocreek-Rumuekpe Pipeline and 24″ Okordia-Rumuekpe Pipeline, which suffers vandalism at least once in every two weeks, did not experience leaks in the month of September 2020.
All the ten leaks were recorded on land assets; the volume of each spill ranges from 0.1 barrel minimum to 61 barrels maximum, in each of the spill site.
Information from JIV reports endorsed by the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, Host communities and State Ministry of Environment in the impacted states and SPDC, showed that all the other 10 leaks were caused by sabotage and third party interference.
While no recoverable oil was found in some of the spill sites, repair work have been completed in some sites; repair work and crude recovery are still ongoing in few sites, while assessment would be completed in some of the sites in June 2021.