A disagreement in the areas impacted by an oil leak
on Trans Ramos Pipeline within Shell’s
oilfield at Aghoro communities in Bayelsa has stalled a joint investigation of
the spill incident.
The leak , which occurred on May 17, 2018 discharged a
yet to be ascertained volume of crude oil into the environment and polluted the
river, farmlands and surroundings.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said a
Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) to ascertain the cause of the oil leak has been
concluded but the report was yet to be signed by all the parties.
Mr Bamidele Odugbesan,
Media Relations Manager at SPDC had said that the joint investigation was
conducted by the oil firm, representatives of the host community, government
and regulatory agencies.
Odugbesan however said
that the report of the JIV which commenced early in July 2018 was ready and
awaiting signing off by the communities but declined to give reasons for the
delays in releasing the JIV report.
The JIV report is expected
to unravel the cause of the spill, volume of oil discharged and the area adversely
impacted, and volume of oil recovered in the spill incident as well as serve as
a basis to determine compensation.
It was gathered that SPDC
and representatives of the host communities had a sharp disagreement on the
size of areas affected by the oil spill and hence refused to sign the report ad
disrupted ongoing clean up of the site.
Mr Sunday Benjamin,
Chairman, Community Development Committee, Aghoro 1 who participated in the JIV
said the communities had argued that the oil spread to wider areas and affected
more places than the JIV covered.
“The cause of the
stalemate is that Shell refused to accommodate satellite communities, they did
not allow the JIV to be extensive, they excluded the satellite communities and
fishing settlements.
“They only captured Aghoro
1 and 2, leaving other fishing settlements impacted by the crude oil that
leaked into the waters; they recorded 33 acres for Aghoro 1 and 113 acres for
Aghoro 2.
“We eventually signed our
portion because we did not want delays in the process and our land affected was
not much but Aghoro 2 people refused to sign that is why the JIV report is
delayed.
“Everyone agreed that the
spill was traced to ruptured pipeline on three points due to corrosion on the
Trans Ramos Pipeline,” Benjamin said.
Reacting to the
development Dr Peter Idabor, Director-General, National Oil Spills Detection
and Response Agency (NOSDRA) told NAN in a telephone interview that the JIV is ‘inconclusive’
following the disagreements.
“ From the feedback from
our officer in Yenagoa, the JIV is inconclusive’” Idabor said
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