Communities Panics Over Oil Pipe Leaks

Residents of Ikarama, a community  near Taylor Creek in Yenagoa Local Government Council area of  Bayelsa Statae was on Wednesday thrown into panic over the offensive odour perceived following the discharging large volumes of  mixture of crude and gas into the air in the area.
The strange gas discharge is coming barely three weeks after another gas leakage caused an explosion in Ogboinbiri community in Southern Ijaw council area of Bayelsa
The Tide gathered that the leakage which happened at the Agip’s onshore oil field near Taylor Creek oil well was noticed by members of the community on Monday.
A Spokesman of the Community Development Committee  Mr Washington Odoyibo told newsmen in Yenagoa that the leakage was noticed early this week and regretted that the oil firm was yet to respond to check the leakage.
“The sound from the spill site could be heard even from our community, especially in the night where the community is relatively quiet.That confirms that it is a really serious spill.  It was on Monday that  one of our community ladies returned from the bush and told us that there was a very serious oil spill spraying like gas into the air, along Agip pipeline.”
“And, as per the cause of spill; you can see with me that it is not easy to get closer to the spill point because of the way the whole environment is covered with crude oil fumes. Hence one cannot even guess the cause.” Odoyibo said.
He said that members of the community are avoiding the leakage site for safety reasons and there were concerns about fire and inhaling the toxic gas.When contacted on telephone for comments on the development, Mr Tajudeen Adigun, an Agip spokesman declined comments.
However, Head of Operations at the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Adeyinka Adewumi,  said that the agency was yet to get a report on the incident.
Reacting to the incident,  Head of Field Operations, Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in Bayelsa, Mr Alagoa Morris, urged the oil firm to lessen the pressure on the pipelines to reduce the discharge into the atmosphere.
Morris called for a joint investigation of the incident by the operator of the oil field, community representatives and oil industry regulators while the impacted site should be cleaned up promptly.
He said that ERA had conducted a field trip on the impacted site and noted that the environment had been negatively affected by the incident