Uneasy Calm As Oil Spill Ravages Community …Shell, Hosts Disagree Over Cause

A major oil spill which recently ravaged Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria-operated Adibawa North-East Well One in Tein-Biseni community of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has triggered an uneasy calm in the area.
While the Awowari family, owners of the area where the spill occurred has attributed the incident to equipment failure, SPDC said it was caused by third party interference.
Community sources told The Tide that the report of a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) on the spill which occurred exactly a month ago, remains inconclusive owing to disagreements over the real cause of the devastating incident.
The Tide learnt that in an attempt to address the stand-off, Shell had mobilised a JIV team to the site to try to determine the cause of the spill and also clamp the source of leakage of crude oil into the environment.
It was gathered that the Shell team had commenced recovery of spilled crude oil on August 12, two days after the spill occurred, but the impacted families reacted negatively to the effort, alleging that they were not carried along in the process.
The Tide investigations reveal that while Shell insists that the spill was caused by sabotage, officials of the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment and landlords of the impacted areas argue that the cause was due to equipment failure.
They pointedly noted that since the incident occurred right at the Well Head at the Atumatu Lake, which impacted the swamp that connects the lake, it was glaring that equipment failure was at the core of the oil spill.
Auditor of the Community Development Committee (CDC) of Tambiri 2 and Secretary of the Awowari family, Mr. Clinton Beworu Amaoru, explained that SPDC deliberately shielded the community from the JIV process in order to placate the truth from the public.
Another member of the Awowari family, Deacon Odenyefa Amoru alleged that the company had rather resorted to divide and rule tactics instead of finding lasting solution to the issue.
In his reaction, Head of the Environmental Rights Action in Bayelsa State, Morris Alagoa expressed sadness that the issues, rather than resolved maturely by the company, has been allowed to create unnecessary crisis in the community.
But in his response, Shell’s Spokesman, Precious Okolobo said SPDC commenced recovery of spilled oil the following day but regretted that the process was disrupted by community people who alleged that it was an operational spill as a means of extracting compensation from the multinational giant.
Okolobo said that during the JIV, which held August 13 – 17, unknown persons had tampered with the well valve with the JIV report yet to be signed off.
He, however, stated that the community people have now agreed that the company should resume the recovery of spilled oil from the environment.
The Tide reports that the Ijaw-speaking Tein communities in Biseni clan of Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State are well known for their fishing and farming activities; as traditional means of livelihood.
The area also plays host to crude oil-related facilities such as oil wells, pipelines and manifolds.
The Tide investigation shows that Biseni has had its share of oil industry-related conflicts, protests and pollution; especially from oil spills with the latest oil spill occurring on August 11, 2017.