Nembe creek OML 29 wellhead still spewing crude oil, 19 days after
Sylva, who landed in Nembe in an helicopter at 12.40p.m., in company of the member representing Nembe/Brass federal constituency, Israel Sunny- Goli and CEO, Upstream Regulatory Commission, said the president was feeling the pain of the people of the impacted communities and local government council.
He said: “It is a very sad development but these things happen. They are operational hazards of the business. Mr. President is very concerned personally and that is why he asked us, his team to come and inspect and make sure that the appropriate action is taken to ameliorate the situation.
“It is not just I that feels their pain, Mr. President feels their pain too and that is why he personally instructed me and the CEO of the Upstream Regulatory Authority to come and assess the situation and take appropriate actions to ensure the people are taken care of.”
Also, Bayelsa State government has called on the Aiteo Group to expedite action to contain the oil spill.
Governor Douye Diri represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, made the call, yesterday, at the State Executive Council meeting In Yenagoa.
He expressed concern over the spillage of crude oil and its attendant degradation of the environment and called on Aiteo to take urgent steps at initiating remediation efforts towards ensuring that the spill at its facility was brought under control.
He further directed the Commissioner for Environment; his Mineral Resources counterpart; Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Governor’s office; Commissioner for Information; Special Adviser to the Governor on Security I as well as the Attorney-General of the state and Commissioner for Justice to undertake an on-the-spot assessment of the spill site.
It was gathered that three barges of 1,000 barrels capacity of recovered crude oil have been evacuated from the boomed area while the fourth is being loaded.
However, the officials of the indigenous company had visited the leadership of the impacted communities to show empathy with the victims and handed over four truckloads of food items, medical supplies while it battles to stop the leak.
Though Aiteo had in a statement said it was seeking foreign technical expertise to
halt the ongoing November 5 oil leak at the facility, the spewing well is yet to abate.
Aiteo, an indigenous oil firm, which acquired OML 29 following the 2015 divestment by Shell, maintained that the leak was caused by oil thieves, who have become an obstacle to oil production and export from the asset.
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