Another crude oil spill from the Nigerian Agip Oil Company’s Ossiama-Ogboinbiri and Ogboinbiri-Tebidaba pipelines has hit the Keme-Ebiama,Okpotuwari and Ondewari communities in Southern Ijaw local government area of Bayelsa State.
The spill, the second in four months in the area, was reported last week by the indigenes and has since spread to Gbaraun and Lobia communities in the council area.
Several incidents of oil spill has been recorded in the area, with the last occurring on April 23, 2015.
According to the affected indigenes, the crude oil spillage is believed to have been caused by equipment failure.
A native of Ondewari and project officer, Ondewari Health, Education and Environmental Project (OHEEP), Tontiemote Yeiyei, said “incidentally, that spot was only the soft spot where the crude oil found its way to the surface; the main ruptured spot on the body of the oil-bearing pipe was a little bit away from where the crude oil was gushing out on the ground.”
He said a team of Agip technicians had visited the spill site on July 21 to carry out clamping and repairs of the damaged point on the pipe, promising to return the following day.
“Those of us that were present saw that even though the aqua-rap was still on the body of the pipe, the crude oil was escaping from the pipe,” he added.
A fire outbreak was reported on Wednesday July 22 as “a familiar” thick column of dark smoke was rising from the current spill impacted environment.
But the identities of those who set the site ablaze could not be ascertained.
The Environmental Rights Action (ERA) and Friends of the Earth Nigeria (FoEN) Bayelsa field coordinator, Alagoa Morris, who was in the area, called on Agip to promptly follow up repairs with a clean-up of the environment.
“Bayelsa State government, through the State Ministry of Environment should take positive steps to protect the interest of all impacted communities,” he said.