Ejiofor Alike and James Sowole
27 December 2011
Lagos/Akure — Days after about 40,000 barrels of crude oil leaked during a routine operation to transfer oil from Bonga’s Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to an oil tanker, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) weekend confirmed that the leak had largely dispersed.
In the meantime, Senate has recalled members of its Committee on Niger Delta and Environment from the Christmas and New Year recess over the spill, regarded as the worst in a decade.
Minister of Environment, Hajia Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia, had stated that the clean-up of the environment, which was undertaken by various local and international experts, would be completed within the next six weeks.
Mailafia spoke with reporters in Lagos at the weekend after she led the Director-General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Mr. Peter Idabor, and the Deputy Director in charge of Safety at the National Maritime Admi-nistration and Safety Agency, Capt. Warredi Enisuoh, to inspect the deep offshore facility.
But in a statement Sunday night, the Chairman of Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu, stated that “SNEPCo’s robust response and the natural weathering process have helped bring a swift end to this incident.
“Since the leak, teams from SNEPCo have worked around the clock with international oil spill experts, using a combination of dispersants and booms to tackle the leaked oil. SNEPCo will continue to monitor the area, including using radar satellite and take appropriate steps to disperse any further persistent oil sheens.
“I am very sorry the leak from Bonga happened in the first place, but I’m now happy to confirm the oil has dispersed. This could not have been done without the support of local and national government officials, who enabled our teams to mobilise quickly and start to tackle the oil almost immediately. I also want to thank the teams that worked day and night to clean up the oil for their tireless efforts, and the communities along the western Delta shoreline for their support and understanding over recent days.”
Sunmonu noted that SNEPCo’s efforts were hampered by third-party oil, spilled from another vessel in the area.
“Our teams witnessed oil on the surface of the water that they are sure did not come from Bonga – we have taken samples of this oil to understand where it came from. While that analysis is being done, I have instructed our teams to tackle all the oil they can see, including oil spilled by third parties, and to ensure all measures are taken to protect the onshore areas,” he said.
After her observation of the Bonga facility at the weekend, Mailafia said the country was lucky that the spill had not hit the coastline.
She also noted that the use of dispersants for the clean-up had been very effective, but acknowledged that the spill would affect marine life, noting, however, that the overall impact on the environment was at the barest minimum.
As part of its response to the disaster, the Senate Committee on Niger Delta and Environment has recalled its members from the Christmas and New Year recess.
A member of the committee representing Ondo South in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Boluwaji Kunlere, disclosed in Akure, Ondo State, yesterday that members of the committee had been directed to visit the scene of the oil spill with a view to determining the extent of destruction and damage to aquatic life and property.
Kunlere explained that necessary attention, local and international, to the incident should be taken to ensure that Shell is made to pay for the cost of the damage to the environment.
According to him, first-hand information made available to members of the committee indicates that not less than 40,000 barrels of crude oil spilled at Bonga oil field and that only one oil company has already been identified to be operating in the area.
The lawmaker stated that the committee would meet with all stakeholders and make recommendations to the appropriate authorities to ensure that those needed to be compensated are adequately rewarded as it is being practised in other parts of the world.
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