Mkpoikana Udoma
28 February 2018, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt – The Shell Petroleum Development Company Nigeria Limited, SPDC, on Tuesday described as untrue and unfounded the allegations that the heap of mud excavated in K-Dere community, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, was toxic waste dumped by the company.
This came following the allegation on Monday by the Ogoni socio-cultural group, the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOP, that samples from the site had been tested in a U.K. laboratory and the results confirmed the toxicity of the site.
Publicity Secretary of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke, had further alleged that Shell buried the wastes in the Ogoni community for years, but intense heat forced the buried substance to become exposed late last year, prompting community investigation.
But the oil company, in a reaction to the allegation, explained that the mud was actually excavated by its remediation contractor working in the area, and that it was a water-based mud with samples of hydrocarbon in it.
A spokesperson for the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited, Mr. Joseph Obari, maintained that the mud, which was excavated since November last year, was not toxic in anyway.
Obari added that the site lies within SPDC’s right of way around Bomu Well 45, and that it was one of several sites identified by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNEP in Ogoni for cleanup by HYPREP.
According to him, “Allegations that the water-based bentonite mud with a mixture of drill cuttings and sand excavated by an SPDC remediation contractor in K-Dere community of Ogoni in November 2017 is toxic waste are untrue and unfounded.
“The material is essentially water-based mud with drill cuttings and sand with hydrocarbon content in some samples.
“In reaction to a petition written to the Department of Petroleum Resources by lawyers to K-Dere community, SPDC explained to DPR that the drilling material in question is not toxic,” Obari said.
