The Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) and National Oil Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA), have sharply disagreed on the purported “administrative fine” imposed on the offshore oil company over the Bonga oil spill which occurred in December last year.

Clarifying its position on the spill last week, SNEPCo said it was disturbed at media reports on a purported fine imposed on it for last December’s oil spill at the offshore field, adding that the fine was absolutely unnecessary.

It would be recalled that at a public hearing in Abuja on July 16, 2012, on the spill before the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, the National Oil Spill Detection and Remediation Agency (NOSDRA) had indicated that it would recommend “an administrative fine” against SNEPCo to the Federal Government because of the incident.

But SNEPCo insisted that there was no legal basis for such a fine, stressing that the company responded professionally and diligently to the incident, and worked at all times alongside and with the support of relevant authorities, including NOSDRA to contain the spill.

“According to the company, “SNEPCo will challenge any attempt to impose such a penalty”, adding that “some parties are alleging that oil from the spill impacted communities, the shoreline, rivers and creeks.”

Managing Director of SNEPCo, Chike Onyejekwe, while reacting to NOSDRA’s moves to fine the company, argued that, “at the hearing in Abuja, NOSDRA confirmed that its analysis did not show any significant agreement between the fingerprint values from Bonga oil samples and those from the communities.”

He added that this testimony was “consistent with our statement at the time of the incident that it was oil from a third party spill that impacted some parts of the shoreline despite SNEPCo’s efforts to tackle it.”

Onyejekwe emphasised that SNEPCo would continue to review and respond to all claims received in respect of the spill, stressing that, “we deeply regret that this incident took place, but as a responsible operator and corporate citizen, we responded to it professionally and effectively, and everything we did was in cooperation with the authorities and in compliance with the regulations”.

According to Onyejekwe, SNEPCo even cleaned up a third party spill that impacted the shoreline”, and should have been commended for that instead of being fined for providing a benevolent service.

Nelson Chukwudi