Shell dismisses Angiama 45,000 barrel oil spill report
…donates ultramodern medical centre
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) has dismissed a report that it spilled 45,000 barrels of oil from an incident at its facility in Nun River in Angiama area of Bayelsa State in March 2020.
“The outcome of the government regulator-led Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) into the spill incident of 27th March 2020 was published in a report that is available on the publicly accessible SPDC spill website and the volume of oil spilled from the regrettable operational incident was 43 barrels,” SPDC’S Media Relations Manager, Bamidele Odugbesan, said in a statement.
According to Odugbesan, the spill JIV report, including photographs of the conducted on 28th March 2020, was signed off by the regulator, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and representatives of the community, representatives of the Bayelsa State Government and SPDC.
Responding to an enquiry on its twitter handle, NOSDRA had erroneously said 45,000 barrels of oil were spilled from the wellhead leak, but the agency admitted the error in a subsequent tweet where it claimed that the actual volume of oil spilled should be 45 barrels, even though the official report of the investigation into the incident stated that 43 barrels were spilled.
Explaining how the incident was managed, Odugbesan said, “No spill is acceptable to us and we work hard to prevent spills from occurring in our operations. Immediately the incident was reported on 27th March 2020, we took promptly steps to stop the spill and contain the spread within the SPDC JV wellhead slot right of way. The recovery of the spilled oil was completed on 5th April 2020.”
Meanwhile the company has donated an ultramodern medical centre to Ogijo community, Sagamu Local Government in Ogun State.
The 20-bed ultramodern medical centre donated to the community as a model of primary health care facility worthy of replication across the state.
Tomi Coker, Ogun State Commissioner for Health, who took delivery of the facility said the donation was timely, coming at a time that the state was struggling with the dearth of facilities to manage the increasing cases infection of the novel coronavirus in the state, adding that the state government alone could not bear the burden of public healthcare delivery.
The medical centre, with doctors’ quarters, alternative power system, water treatment plant and a medical ambulance was built, equipped and furnished by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company Limited (SNEPCO) in partnership with SNEPCO’S co-venture partners.
Bayo Ojulari, Managing Director of SNEPCO, Bayo Ojulari, who handed over the facility to the state government noted that the focus of the social investment policy of the company was on health and education, and that SNEPCO would continue to strengthen its relationship with governments across Nigeria for better healthcare and education systems. “Our health intervention programmes have been delivered in many states and our secondary school and university scholarships are continuing to grow. With the support of NNPC and our co-venture partners, we will not relent.”
General Manager of the National Petroleum Investment Management Services, an NNPC subsidiary, Bala Wunti, who was represented by NNPC’S General Manager, Services, Yahaya Yunusa, charged the state and Ogijo community to provide effective management of the facility in a manner that will provide the required healthcare services to the people. “Sustainability should be paramount in the management system to ensure that the facility serves the purpose for which it is meant.”