The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria has said that the reported oil spill from its facility in Imiringi community in Bayelsa State was caused by oil thieves.
The international oil company said that it carried out a Joint Investigative Visit into the July 27, 2024 oil spill.
The JIV is a statutory probe that follows every reported spill incident by regulators, operators, and community representatives to ascertain the cause, volume of spill and impacted area.
Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager of SPDC, in a statement on Wednesday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, said that three barrels of SPDC’s Bonny light crude blend was spilled into the environment.
Although members of the Imiringi community had claimed that the spill had polluted farmlands and water bodies in the area, SPDC said the entire three barrels had been recovered, leaving a residue.
Odugbesan said in the statement: “SPDC, operator of the SPDC JV, acknowledges the occurrence of an oil spill from its Kolo creek Well 22T flowline facility at Imiringi on July 27,
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“The report of the joint investigation of the incident led by the Government Regulator, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), found that the incident was caused by illegal third-party activity.
“Meanwhile, cleanup, remediation and repair of the breached pipeline are ongoing.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the JIV ended on July 30 with all parties unanimously agreeing on the cause, while repairs on the breached pipeline are ongoing.
According to SPDC, the JIV team comprised of the government regulators, Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.
Also on the team were the Bayelsa State Ministry of the Environment, representatives of the impacted community and SPDC.
The oil firm stated that the outcome and report of the investigation, led by the Regulator, NOSDRA, was signed off by all members of the JIV team.
It will be recalled that environmental advocacy group, Environmental Defenders Network, had called for clean up of the spill site to forestall possible spread to other communities in the area.
Chief Lagos Morris, Deputy Director of the group, who visited the spill site, urged the relevant authorities to see to the remediation of the impacted area in view of the rains.
Morris, who called on all stakeholders to work towards preventing third party spills, condemned the act and urged that the perpetrators be fished out and prosecuted.
