The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Friday confirmed the discharge of 45 barrels of crude at Angiama oilfields in Bayelsa.
The Angiama
oilfield operated by Shell Petroleum Development Com[any (SPDC) in located in
the swamps of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in Bayelsa.
NOSDRA
announced in its official twitter handle on Friday that the leak was traced to equipment
failure during a Joint Investigative Visit to the spill incident site.
"We
can confirm there was a spill at Angiama community, JIV has also been carried
out. Cause of spill: Equipment Failure, Quantity of Spill: 45 Barrels.
“Results
from the stakeholders meeting to be carried out soon towards the community,”
NOSDRA stated.
Investigations showed that although the March 17, 2020 incident
due to corrosion, the Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) report usually uploaded
on SPDC’s s[ill incident web portal has yet to be made public.
It will be recalled that the JIV process was marred by
controversy between officials of SPDC and representatives of the host community
over volume of spilled crude.
Chief Clement Macline, a community leader who participated in
the joint investigation in April 2020 had disclosed that the exercise was
suspended due to the dispute over volume of leak.
“I refused to sign the form due to wide disagreement between
what is on the ground and verifiable evidence, and the 43 barrels they proposed
in the form, from our own perspective the volume of leak is in excess of 45,000
barrels.
“Based on verifiable evidence, we have counted the number of
giant GP tanks of recovered crude and they have more than 20 of such large
tanks already filled with crude and they say only 43 barrels leaked.
“What we found out from unnamed SPDC officials is that the
45,000 barrels we are estimating is very conservative because the crude has
soaked into the land whilst evaporation and water currents have taken away lots
of the oil.
“So, when you look at all the factors of how long the leak
lasted before it was plugged, the claims by SPDC does not add up at all, that
is why I opted to decline endorsing the claim.
“They had a similar leak late 2019, and I personally reported
the spill to SPDC officials, the leak was from the well head, they came,
recovered their oil and left without remediating the impacted area.
“Later they denied that there was no such incident,” Macline
said.
Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, the Media Relations Manager at SPDC, had
acknowledged the delay in the release of the report, saying that the report
could not be released because it had not been signed.
“The JIV is published after it is signed off and this marks the
completion of the process,” he said.
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