ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, YENAGOA
The 14-inch crude trunkline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company in the Niger Delta spilled 276 barrels of Bonny light crude in three incidents in April 2021, a Joint Investigation Visit report has indicated.
The Okordia-Rumekpe crude pipeline is part of the Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP) network criss-crossing SPDC’s onshore fields that conveys crude to the Shell’s crude export terminal at Bonny in Rivers State.
The 276 barrels of crude is the cumulative volume of spills from a section of the pipeline that transverses Bayelsa and Rivers communities in the month of April 2021, it was learnt.
Checks at the oil firm’s spill incident online portal showed that two of the spills were caused by sabotage while one was traced to equipment failure.
The JIV reports on the incidents indicated that the leak which occurred at Ikararama in Bayelsa on April 7, 2021, traceable to equipment failure, caused a leakage of about 110 barrels.
JIV is a statutory exercise to ascertain the cause of any recorded spills involving oil firms, regulators, host communities and state Ministries of the Environment.
The JIV reports indicated that the spill reported on April 7 at Ikarama in Bayelsa was traced to equipment failure and discharged some 110 barrels into the environment
The leak incident of April 13 at Ihuowu in Rivers, attributed to sabotage by the JIV report, caused a spillage of 157 barrels of crude.
The report further showed that on April 14 at Ukpeliede in Rivers, the same Okordia-Rumekpe trunkline was breached by vandals leaving a leak of nine barrels.
According to the oil company’s spills records, spill response activities are ongoing at the spill sites while recovery of spilled crude would be completed in May 2021.
Also SPDC indicated that it concluded investigation in seven spill incidents from its operations across the Niger Delta with a total spilled volume of 435.01 barrels of crude.
It was learnt that out of the seven leak incidents, six were caused by sabotage while one was traced to equipment failure.
Media Relations Manager at SPDC, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, declined comments on the integrity of the frequently breached 14-inch Okordia-Rumekpe pipeline.