….717 barrels from sabotage
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — A total of 81.1 barrels of crude oil was spilled by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, SPDC, as a result of operational failure in the month of November, 2020.
Data obtained from Shell website showed that between November 1 and November 27, 2020, the Dutch multinational also recorded losing 717 barrels of crude from nine oil spills sites caused by sabotage, making it a total of 11 spill incidents in the month of November.
The 11 spill incidents took place in Rivers, Delta and Bayelsa States, amounting to 798.1 barrels of crude oil.
The affected facilities include; 16” Nun River-KoloCreek Pipeline, 18” Assa-Rumuekpe Pipeline, 20” KoloCreek-Rumuekpe Pipeline, 8” Agbada-Nkpoku Pipeline, 6″ Imo River2-Imo, River1 bulkline.
Others are, 20” Escravos pipeline, 14″ Okordia- Rumuekpe Pipeline, 24” Ogale- Bonus pipeline, 12” Imo River-Ogale 2 pipeline, 12” Imo River-Ogale 1 pipeline, and Soku well 14.
Two leaks were recorded on a swampy terrain, while nine leaks were recorded on land; the volume of each spill ranges from 0.1 barrel to 209 barrels in each of the spill site.
Information from the JIV reports, endorsed by the Department of Petroleum Resources, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Host communities and Ministry of Environment in the impacted states and SPDC, showed that two of the leaks were caused by operational failure, while nine were caused by sabotage.
While no recoverable oil was found in some of the spill sites, recovery and assessment are yet to be completed in most sites, as some would take till January 2021.
