Residents of Kalaba community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa on Sunday reported five oil spill points on Agip’s oil pipeline in the area.

The Tide gathered that three of the spill points were currently discharging oil into the environment, while the remaining two were discharging a mixture of crude and gas.

Our correspondent also reports that the residents, however, attributed the frequent spills in the area to the activities of oil thieves, who often burst oil pipelines to steal oil.

Mr Roman Olukali, a community leader in Kalaba, told newsmen that the community had particularly experienced frequent oil spills caused by oil thieves in the last two years.

He stressed that the menace could have been checked if Agip, the oil firm, had taken the community into confidence and collaborated with the people in efforts to safeguard the oil pipelines.

Olukali alleged that the company failed to relate with the community, adding that this led to the people’s failure to report strange movements around the pipelines.

“We are really disturbed about the effect of these spills and on our own; we want to cooperate with Agip to solve the problem but Agip does not want to come here and reason with us.

“Sometimes, when they come here to fix the leaks, they do not even tell us, and they often leave the area before we know that they have been around,’’ he added.

Mr Joel Joel, the Youth President of Kalaba community, bemoaned the incessant oil spills in the neighbourhood.

“‘These incessant oil spills in our environment is affecting us negatively, both in terms of the impact on the environment and our means of livelihood and the kind of negative publicity it attracts for our community.

“We are not happy at all; and I have warned at a meeting we held sometime ago that we will not spare anyone in the community, caught or found to be responsible for any oil spill in this environment,’’ Joel said.

Mr Adeyinka Adewumi, the Head of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) in Port Harcourt, confirmed that Agip had shut down operations in the area since March due to oil theft.

Agip, which operates in the country as Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), said in a statement that it authorised the suspension of its operations in the area on March 22 and subsequently declared a “Force Majeure’’ on its oil output from the facilities on March 23.

“Force Majeure’’ is a legal notice that absolves an oil firm of liabilities for failure to meet supply obligations to crude buyers due to circumstances beyond the firm’s control.

“Agip confirms that during the night between March 21 and 22, the company had declared ‘force majeure’ and ordered the closure of its onshore activities in the swamp area located in Bayelsa.

“The decision was made due to the intensified illegal bunkering, consisting in the sabotage of pipelines and the theft of crude oil, which recently reached unsustainable levels regarding personal safety and damage to the environment,’’ the statement said.

It said that the firm produced about 40,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the shut facilities.

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