Shell’s Pipeline spills 213 barrels of crude into Ikarama community in Bayelsa
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Our Correspondent
The Okordia-Rumekpe 14 inch crude trunkline operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has discharged some 213 barrels of crude into Ikarama community in Bayelsa.
Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations Manager at SPDC confirmed the leak and said that the probe into the incident has been concluded.
According to a Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) report obtained on the incident on Thursday, the incident occured on April 7 while the investigation was concluded on April 12.
JIV is a statutory probe into the cause of any recorded spill incident involving the oil firm, regulators, host community and State Ministry of Environment.
The JIV report concluded that the spill was an operational mishap traced to equipment failure and impacted nearby palm trees and fish ponds and recommended remediation of the site.
The report indicated that an estimated area of 1.34 hectares of land was polluted by the leak which followed the rupture on the crude trunk pipeline.
According to the report, out of the 213 barrels of SPDC’s bonny light crude stream leak, some 110 barrels are recoverable from the ongoing recovery exercise at the site leaving the estimated spilled volume at 109.12 barrels.
The JIV report which anticipates that oil recovery would be concluded before the end of April also recommended replacement of sections of the pipeline to restore its integrity.
