Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company has revealed that it is mobilising technical expertise both locally and internationally to contain the spill at OML 29 in Nembe, Bayelsa State. The company also added that an investigation will commence to determine the cause of the spill.
This was disclosed in a press release signed by its spokesman, Mathew Ndianabasi, on Monday, stating that the company has sought foreign technical expertise to halt the ongoing oil leak.
Aiteo, an indigenous oil company also recently visited the communities impacted by the spill and donated over four truckloads of food items, medical supplies and N5 million cash to those affected.
What Aiteo is saying about the oil spill
In the statement, Ndianabasi noted that spills of this nature are not uncommon to the oil and gas industry, and their resolution requires expert skills and equipment that are not routinely or readily available.
“The typical process is to first kill the well and stop the leak and then focus on the clean-up, asides from urgent possible technical responses to contain the leak.
“Aiteo has sought active collaboration with Clean Nigeria Associates (CNA) and has since mobilised to site, in addition to Aiteo internal resources to reinforce containment and recovery efforts.
“CNA is the industry non-profit umbrella body with expertise and resource to contain spills of this nature.
“In the meantime, however, the area has been cordoned off and CNA is mobilising additional resources to strengthen the containment effort.
“The required apparatus, including heavy-duty and specialist equipment are presently being mobilised, locally and internationally, on a fast-track basis, to bring the well under control.
“For this purpose, Aiteo has on-boarded the involvement of the renowned, Boots & Coots, arguably the leading well control company in the world, working with a local resource.
“Upon this intervention and conclusion, it is expected that the persistence of the leak alongside its functional consequences will be abated and significantly diminished,” the oil firm stated.
Meanwhile, Andrew Oru, Director, Asset production at Aiteo said the particular well has about 85% gas and just about 15% crude. While speaking in an interview on ChannelsTV, Oru said that all efforts are being made to contain the incident.
“Immediately the incident happened, we moved our expertise and equipment to contain it and make sure it does not desperse,” he said.
He added that the company is investigating immediate and remote causes of the leak.
“We are suspicious to what may have happened to the well. We do not want that to be a repeat. We have commenced investigation to determine the real cause of the event,” he added.
What you should know
Aiteo Eastern Exploration Company reported on November 5th about a major leakage from its Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29, in Nembe, Bayelsa.
Aiteo acquired the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 following the 2015 divestment by Shell. The well was acquired for $2.4 billion and consists of the 97km Nembe Creek trunk line which evacuates crude from onshore oil wells within the oil bloc and other operators to Bonny Export Terminal.