The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and some environmentalists have expressed concern over the environmental impact of Conoil Producing Limited’s operations in Bayelsa.
The concerns were raised over the firm’s insensitivity to the sustenance of the environment where it operated, and its continued failure to appropriately respond to an undersea leak in its oilfield pipeline in the state, since September 3 , 2020.
The Tide source recalled that NOSDRA Director General Idris Musa, had confirmed the incident on December 2, 2020 and berated the company for operating in breach of regulatory guidelines.
Musa told newsmen in Yenogoa that the oil firm had the habit of causing avoidable spills and had previously been sanctioned for degrading the environment.
“This oil company has been spilling oil for a period of time now, from our findings, it is from an underwater pipeline under pressure creating bubbles on the water surface.
“All the directives given to it to contain the oil spill, shut down and replace the leaking pipeline, near shore in Sangana, Bayelsa, fell on deaf ears.
“The agency sanctioned the company for this untoward act, but nothing has changed. The leakage continues and the oil company behaves irresponsibly even though it is a Nigerian oil firm,” Musa said.
The leak emanated from Conoils’s  facility known as ‘Aunty Julie platform’ within Oil Mining Lease 59, at Otuo  Oilfield, it was learnt.
According to information on the company’s website, the facility, a mobile offshore production unit commissioned in 1999, has capacity to produce 80,000 barrels of crude daily.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria  (ERA/FoEN) says it is disturbed by the unsafe environmental practices at an offshore oilfield operated by Conoil.
In  a report on the issue,  signed by , Head, ERA/FoEN Niger Delta Resource Centre , Yenagoa, Bayelsa, Mr Alagoa Morris the group said the posture of Conoil, despite regulatory sanctions, left  much to be desired as the adverse impact of the operation was borne by host communities.