• Affected communities disagree
The fire at the site of theFuniwa 1A natural gas well offshore Nigeria ceased on Friday, March 2, Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) has said.
In a statement yesterday the company said the well stopped flowing on its own. It has not detected any natural gas from it since the fire ceased and is monitoring the area continuously, the statement added. The company will continue to drill the relief well to plug and abandon Funiwa 1A.
CNL confirmed that 152 workers on board rig were safely evacuated while two missed. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation/Chevron joint venture, own Funiwa field, within oil mining lease (OML) 86.
However, sources from the affected communities of Koloama said the fire, which had continued to emit its flames in the last two months, was far from being over.
An indigene of one of the affected communities, who spoke on phone and pleaded anonymity, countered the statement from Chevron authorities.
The source said the fire was still on and inhabitants of the communities were still going through gruesome health conditions. The angered source noted that “whether the fire goes off or not is never the issue, the issue is, are members of the affected communities well taken care off?”
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Chevron puts out Funiwa gas well fire