The people of Nembe Basamri in Bayelsa State on Thursday, November 18, expressed concerns over the air toxicity following prolonged exposure to gas and crude oil leaks from a nearby oil well operated by Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company (AEEPCO), the operator of Oil Mining Lease (OML 29).
The oil firm had reported a leak from an oil well at its Santa Barbra South field within Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 on November 5, but community sources claimed the leak was noticed on November 1. Residents at fishing settlements along the Nembe creeks have been living with the gas and crude discharge, which has paralysed economic activities in the predominantly fishing area for the past two weeks.
Nimibofa Degi, a community leader in Opu-Nembe, who spoke with newsmen, said the people in the impacted areas were worried over the air quality in the area and alleged that they were having respiratory challenges. He said a four-year-old girl died recently in the community after developing complications following complaints of stomach upset and difficulty in breathing.
“With the girl’s death, suspected to have been because of methane gas poisoning, we have expressed worries to our king that if nothing is done urgently, more deaths are imminent. “As a biochemist, I know how toxic methane gas can be and we call for an emergency air quality audit to ascertain the toxicity levels in the impacted communities. “If not for the resilience and robust immunity of the rural people, more residents would have developed severe complications,” he said. “The result of the air quality tests would go a long way to determine if evacuating the people is necessary”.
Speaking further, he said “the oil well in question is a gas well with about 80 per cent gas and 20 per cent crude reserve, and the ongoing response by more than 50 oil workers is on oil recovery while the toxic gas escapes into the atmosphere”. Reacting to a statement from AEEPCO spokesperson, Mathew Ndianabasi, which claimed that the oil firm suspected oil theft and sabotage, Mr Degi dismissed the claim as “a reckless prejudice”.
“It is just a ploy to evade liability for the obvious neglect. It is a known fact that the well is non-producing and the area has saltwater while the wellhead casing is made of steel, which is prone to corrosion. He maintained that rather than look inwards at their safety procedures for such high- pressure wells, they are pointing fingers at innocent people even as the surveillance worker who noticed and reported the leak is being hunted by the security agencies.
“We will resist every attempt to pre-determine the cause of this disaster even when the investigation has yet to commence. Every alliance between the operator and their surveillance contractors to divert attention from safety processes will fail. “We have evidence that when the leak was reported earlier on about November 1, rather than use appropriate sealants, they used clothes to block the crack. We will give the evidence during the joint investigation and the truth will prevail,” Mr Degi said.
