By Adedapo Adesanya
The spills from the Diebu Creek flow station operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) Limited in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have been traced to equipment failure.
The spill, which became noticeable on August 24, 2022, according to residents, discharged large volumes of crude oil into the environment, polluting the Nun River, swamps, and farmlands; and caused hardship to the predominantly peasant fishing and farming settlement.
The report of the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to the incident site duly signed by stakeholders, including officials of SPDC, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, Ministry of Environment and community members, concluded that the oil spill incident was caused by equipment failure.
JIV is a statutory procedure that follows every oil spill incident by representatives of oil firms, the host community, and regulators to ascertain the cause, volume, and area impacted by the oil spill.
The JIV report, sighted by our correspondent, indicated that the spill was due to an operational mishap that discharged crude oil within SPDC’s operational area with no impact on the third-party area.
The Chairman of Peremabiri Community Development Committee, Mr Return Koma, who represented the community on the JIV, said that officials of SPDC, as well as regulators, were in agreement that the investigated incident was traced to equipment failure.
Mr Koma said the operational mishap on August 24 2024 at Diebu Creek flow station, operated by SPDC, discharged a yet-to-be ascertained volume of crude into the environment, adding that the JIV could not arrive at the volume of spilled crude, and so did not sign the JIV report.
“We have conducted the JIV, and they accepted responsibility for the leak incident at the flow station and another one at nearby Well 6, both were due to equipment failure.
“We were unable to agree on the volume of spilled crude and so did not sign the report,” he said.
Meanwhile, the people of the Peremabiri community have continued to lament the adverse impact of the spill and the alleged insensitivity, neglect, and delayed response by SPDC.
The community said the delayed response to the spill by SPDC had led to damage to the land and marine environment and impacted a wider area.
Modupe Gbadeyanka