Contending with frequent accidents at oilfields in Bayelsa

 Less than an hour after arrival at the Agip facility, Mr Godspower Okorosei, a welder was blown to pieces, and his remains, unrecognizable. mixed with the shattered pieces of the crude oil pipeline he came to repair.

 More than one year after the July 2015 tragic incident, his family and that of the other 13 who died in the blast cannot believe how they lost their bread winners.

Their agonies have endured with the treatment they have received from the company.

The loss of 17 lives within one year at oilfields in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area (LGA) in Bayelsa has raised concern on the value of human lives and safety at oil and gas industry.

Stakeholders say the weak operational safety regulations and procedures at oilfields in the country can therefore not be neglected given the alarming casualty rates recorded from such incidents and the central role of the oil sector.

Three accidents had occurred with oilfields operated by Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in Southern Ijaw LGA from July 9, 2015 till date with a death toll of 17.

Worried by the frequent accidents and operational mishaps with high casualty rates the Bayelsa Ministry of Environment on September 7, 2015 raised the alarm on the poor regulatory framework and took steps to tighten loose ends.

 On July 9, 2015 a total of 14 persons died in a pipeline explosion which occurred at Agip’s oil fields in Azuzuama in Southern Ijaw LGA in Bayelsa.

Among the victims were regulatory officials from Bayelsa Ministry of Environment, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, (NOSDRA), Oil workers and security men conducting a joint investigation of the spill site.

Earlier reports had put the casualty figure at 12 deaths but Police Spokesman Mr Asinim Butswat, a Deputy Superintendent of Police said 14 bodies were recovered, the disparity raised the question on sanctity of human lives in the sector..

The statement issued by Mr Filipo Cotalini, a spokesman for Eni, the parent company of NAOC, said that three others were injured in the explosion at an oil spill site.

It said that the cause of the explosion was being investigated by a team comprising officials of NAOC, representatives of the host community and the Bayelsa Ministry of Environment.

“The cause of an explosion which occurred on July 9, late in the afternoon, at the site of the repair works of the Tebidaba-Clough Creek line, an oil pipeline in Nigeria’s onshore Niger Delta, previously damaged by acts of sabotage, was under investigation.

“The explosion resulted in the death of 12 members of the maintenance team of a local company of services, with three others also injured.

“The cause of the incident is still under investigation by both Eni and the local authorities.

“The company expresses its deepest condolences to the families of those involved in this tragic accident,” the statement said.

Barely eight months after the explosion at Azuzuama, another one occurred at Olugboboro community, also in Southern Ijaw LGA on March 27, 2016.

Messrs Nelson Ineigibo, Christian Emmanuel and Meshack Ogunuku lost their lives in the blast.

‎The explosion reportedly occurred on Easter Sunday while pipeline workers from Maco Marine, an oil services firm were working to clamp a ruptured section of the Agip pipeline.

The corpses of the three victims were recovered the next day after the fire subsided.  

Reacting on the incident, Head of Field Operations at Environmental Right Action/Friends of Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) Mr Alagoa Morris‎ described the incident as shocking and tragic.

"The news of another tragic incident in the oil industry which claimed three lives and injured several persons came to ERA with great shock.

“While industrial accidents are part of the realities of our existence, some are preventable.

“ERA will not stop calling on the authorities and regulators of the oil industry to make safety the mantra of the industry, not just profit.

“We are calling for a well-constituted panel of inquiry composed of professionals and stakeholders, including civil society organizations, to investigate this incident, make recommendations, and report all findings to the public,” Morris said.

The environmentalist noted that the explosion came less than a year after a similar incident in Azuzuama claimed fourteen lives and called for urgent steps to halt the trend.

Also 0n June 30, one week to the first anniversary of Azuzuaa explosion of July 9,  2015, another tragic incident, this time an attack by armed men on oil workers trying to fix a vandalized oil facility in Nembe LGA, Bayelsa

Gunmen suspected to be militants sympathetic to Niger Delta Avengers had killed three oil workers at an oil field operated by Nigerian Agip Oil Company, in Bayelsa.

The new militant group Niger Delta Avengers had in May claimed responsibility for blowing up the facility.

Community sources said that the incident occurred oat the oilfield located in the creeks of Nembe around Obama flow station.

An oil industry source, said the victims were two engineers and a diver.

The Director-General of the oil spill agency NOSDRA had Dr Peter Idabor had bemoaned the poor safety procedures at Agip’s oilfields which resulted to death of its staff and an official of Bayelsa Ministry of Environment.

“It is such a painful experience to us in NOSDRA, we have informed the family of the affected staff who hailed from Enugu state and we are in talks with Bayelsa government who also lost a staff from its ministry of environment.

“This incident shows the kind of risks and hazards that our officers are constantly exposed to in the discharge of our mandate at oilfields amidst daunting challenges and limitations,”  Idabor said.

Shortly after the March 2016 blast, Idabor had said that the accident rate at Agip’s field was not tolerable that he had summoned Agip and threatened to drag the oil firm before the Minister of Environment over poor safety procedures.

Idabor said that the final report of the investigation report was still being awaited more than one year after the tragedy.

On the part of Bayelsa Ministry of Environment whose Chief Environmental Scientist Mr Theofilus Duabo died on the July 9, 2015 blast, it commenced a policy to check frequent accidents at oilfields within he state.

The Bayelsa government in a letter in September 2015 warned oil firms operating in the state to comply with guideline for oil spill response or face stiff sanctions and penalties.

According to the letter signed by Mr Iniruo Wills, then Bayelsa Commissioner for Environment, the sanctions will include seeking revocation of operational licenses.

It could be recalled that Bayelsa government on August 18 2015 unveiled a policy christened “LIVES BEFORE OIL’  to ensure safety of human lives in oil field operations within the state.

“We request that you and your organization to adhere strictly to the sequence contained in the attached Guidelines in responding to and managing oil spill and gas leak incidents in or affecting any part of Bayelsa State.

“This is in furtherance of our determination to re-intensify enforcement of globally acceptable environmental and safety standards in all industrial operations in the State, and to ensure that lives are placed in priority before oil.

“These Guidelines are issued in light of the extremely alarming frequency of oil and gas pollution disasters in the State.

“These cases have recently reached an approximate range of 1000 in a year, with unbearable consequences for human lives, public health, community livelihoods and peace, tourism.

“Also agriculture, forestry, the overall economy of Bayelsa State, and the sustainability and physical integrity of the State's ecology and terrain are equally affected adversely,” The letter read in part.

The Commissioner noted that the disaster of July 9, 2015 at Agip's field at Azuzuama, that killed 14 persons, was followed by a massive oil spill fire barely one week later at the Okpotuwari-Ondewari axis, within Agip’s fieldall in Bayelsa.

“These are two examples of the fatal threat posed by the oilfield practice and manner of oil spill management prevalent in the State, despite repeated efforts by Government and regulatory authorities to compel improvements,” Wills stated in the letter.

More than one year afterwards relatives of the victims of the July 9 blast say that the pains of the loss were still with them even as they accused Agip of neglecting the dependants of the victims.

Mr Clinton Italia a relative of one of the victims told NAN that all that the family got was a N800,000 burial assistance and N7.4 million interim palliative.

“Life has been difficult and painful for the families of the victims of the explosion at Azuzuama. Apart from the burial assistance and the sum of N7.4 million, nothing has been done to the oilfield to forestall future accidents.

“The dependants of the deceased feel abandoned as Agip is yet to pay the main compensation, we have waited for the compensation and other promises they made to no avail and we are looking at ways of taking up the case with them.” Italia said.

For the families of Duabo, late official of Bayelsa Ministry of Environment the scenario is even more pathetic as Mr Karibi MacDonald, elder brother to the deceased said Agip neither commiserated nor participated in the burial of Duabo.

“ It is very unfortunate that Agip is so insensitive to the needless death of 14 Nigerians due to the poor safety records in their oil fields, there has been no contact with us, relatives of late staff of Bayelsa Environment Ministry.

“The stance of Agip since this incident occurred has been regrettable they have not bothered to contact us even during the burial of the victims, when my own brother was burie we did not see Agip.

“It is very sad that a foreign company can be this arrogant and be shying away from its liability and could not even commiserate with the bereaved families.

“We are calling on the federal government who are their joint venture partners to call them to order to avert incurring the wrath of the dead, the total lack of remorse by Agip is unacceptable.

“So far, preliminary investigations show that no effort was made to prevent the explosion as flammable materials were not cleared from the site before repair work, neither was the pipeline shut.

 “What happened was not an accident, it was preventable, Agip killed our brothers and they are not sorry about what has happened,” MacDonald said..

The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria had on September 16 2015 demanded $28 million compensation for  14 victims, amounting to $2 million for each victim.

Eni , Italian Energy firm and the parent company of NAOC declined comments on poor safety records and high death tolls from frequent accidents in its oilfields in Bayelsa

 However in a reaction to the claims of neglect by relatives of the victims of the Azuzuama incident said in a brief email response that its Nigerian operations had assisted some 12 out 14 families of the victims of the blast.

“12 out of 14 families have received support from NAOC. For the remaining 2 families the process is in progress and will be completed very soon,” Eni stated.

The need for a multi-stakeholder approach to enforceable and practical safety policies and procedures to reduce fatalities at oilfields in Bayelsa and across the oil-rich Niger Delta region is therefore imminent.