Report Confirms 482 Barrels Of Oil Spill In Bayelsa

A Joint Investigation Visit Report (JIVR) has established that the cause of the oil spillage which ravaged the Ikarama Community in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State could be traced to sabotage by unknown persons.
The report stated that the spill impacted an area of 6400 square meters which stretched beyond the oil firm’s right of way into the adjoining land near the spill site.
It said that some 482 barrels of Shell’s Bonny Medium crude stream was discharged into the environment while 15 per cent of the volume might have evaporated.
The report further stated that Shell commenced the recovery of spilled oil on November 12, 2013 while clean up of the spill site would be completed in April 2014.
Last year alone, the Ikarama community suffered more than five incidents of oil spill from Okordia-Rumuekpe 14 inch crude delivery pipeline which impacted seriously on its environment.
The spill was reportedly caused by activities of oil thieves which left a hacksaw cut on the 14 crude pipeline.
Representatives of National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency, host communities, Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, Department of Petroleum Resources and Police were signatory to the report.
However, Mr Washington Odoyibo, Public Relations Officer of Ikarama Community Development Committee said yesterday that the leak had been clamped.
He said that the spill had taken a negative toll on the farming and fishing vocations of his community and called on the oil firm and government to do something in order to reduce the sufferings of the people.