Oil & Energy

Checking Indiscriminate Oil Exploitation In N’Delta

Published

6 years ago

December 4, 2017

Before the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in Oloibiri community, Bayelsa State in the late 50s by the Royal Dutch Company, Shell, the people lived a life of contentment, depending on the treasures of their natural environment which earned them their daily means of livelihood.
Today, the community remain scarred with the brunts of oil exploration, bereft of basic amenities and perhaps remembered only for its pioneering role as the area where oil was first struck in commercial quantity in Nigeria. Oloibiri community, no doubt, portrays the dismal catastrophe of unguarded and incautious exploitation of natures energy reserve.
Oloibiri among several other affected communities in the Niger Delta has become case studies of oil pollution and environmental degradation among scholars.
A visit to some communities in Ogoni, Rivers State, such as Bodo, also reveals the sorry state of oil bearing communities. The adjoining creeks and mangrove habitation in the area are now extinct and the once thriving rural economy and communal living is displaced.
No thanks to reckless oil exploration activities which have brought colossal damage to the natural environment, depriving the people of their natural means of livelihood. The effects of these reckless conservation of natural energies are not farfetched.
Apart from the physical damage to the natural environment and pollution of the atmosphere, the people are forced out of their natural abode, to migrate into unaccustomed areas in search of livelihood that are mostly not found.
A former inhabitant of Kozo community, a coastal habitation in Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Peter Ledisi, who now lives in Bodo town, told The Tide that he was born in Kozo community and grew up in the area until the sad experience of oil pollution displaced his family.
Ledisi, who is 35 years old, said his parents took care of him and his siblings through the proceeds of fishing, but today he noted life has become so difficult for the family as their means of livelihood is destroyed.
“That place you see (Kozo community) used to be our home for the past decades, we grew up there and pursued life with happiness, we were contented with what nature provided for us through fishing, every growing child enjoying living there because it provided fun for us and filled our desire and passion for game and we also made money from it. Today, we are displaced out of our home by oil pollution, life is now a misery for us,” he lamented.
Another displaced inhabitant of the community, Miss Tornubari Sakpugi, also narrated her ordeal following the devastation of their natural settlement by oil pollution.
Sakpugi, a fish dealer, said her business has collapsed, as her customers can no longer go on their fishing expeditions due to pollutions of the rivers.
“I used to buy fish in higher quantity from fishermen who sojourn to the deep sea for a catch. The business helped me a lot and I was able to provide for my needs, but today things are very hard for me. It is a terrible experience to move out of a place where you earn your daily living to a place where survival is not certain as there is no alternative means of livelihood.
“We want the polluted rivers to be cleaned, so that we can return home. They are talking about UNEP report, but no action is foreseen. We are suffering; the government should do something to help us”.
At Kozo community, she said there was no visibly sign of life, but desolation. The sprawling creeks where the fishermen launched their daily expeditions were laden with thick layers of crude oil. The mangrove reserves that harboured sea food was completely burnt off, one would hardly believe that the settlement once hosted over four thousand inhabitants. Fishermen at some major water-fronts in Port Harcourt also have similar stories to tell.
Iyalla, a fisherman who resides at Ibadan water front in Port Harcourt told The Tide during a visit to the area, that fishing business is no longer lucrative compared to the past. Asked the reason for the sharp decline in the business, he said the rivers have been contaminated with spilled crude oil from bunkering activities.
According to him, years back, fishermen did not have to go to the deep sea before they were rewarded with good catch. But today, he said they have to paddle and wander up the sea amidst wreckages of boats and badges and sometimes return home with little or no catch.
He explained that illegal refining of crude oil and vandalisation of oil pipeline smear the rivers with wasted crude and floating dead sea creatures.
Experts have also identified the reckless exploration of energy resources as the major threats to the natural environment, especially aquatic life.
A Chemical Engineer, Dr Ujile Owajiogak, who spoke with The Tide in an interview in Port Harcourt, said the burning of our natural reserves especially through the “cooking of crude oil” puts the life of the present generation and that of posterity at risk.
The Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Rivers State University, disclosed that it takes over 50 years for a polluted site to regain its lost reserves. Using the experience of the civil war as example, the university teacher said, the bombing of oil facilities in the Niger Delta during the war left in its wake devastating effect on the creeks and coastal channels of the region.
He pointed out that after close to 50 years of the war, nothing has grown in the impacted sites and the flourishing mangrove forest is replaced with nypa palm that has no economic value.
“The indulgence of criminal elements in the cooking of crude oil is very destructive to our ecosystem and has health implication. Research has shown that illegal bunkering will increase cancer in the Niger Delta region. What is the sense in taking a few component of the products and wasting the rest on aquatic life? Our environment was preserved and bequeathed to us by our forebears, but today, we are destroying it. The oil, companies are not helping matters, as they flare gas and cause damage to the natural environment. There are serious health challenges in the region as the people are now endangered species, this is pathetic,” he declared.
In the view of an Environmental Sociologist, Dr Steve Wodu, human insensitivity to the protection of his natural environment has worsened problems of environmental degradation. To him, some of man’s action are tempered on crass ignorance or “deliberate obstinacy,” billed to ruin existence.
“Otherwise what would be the rationale behind indiscriminate burning of natural energy reserves or bad sanitation habits such as littering of wastes and lack of care of the natural surrounding,” he asked rhetorically.
Wodu posited that a new era of posterity can only blossom if we begin to treat our environment with some sanctity with which we treat our life.
Also commenting on the need to check indiscriminate exploitation of nature’s reserve, the Director Institute of Conflict and Gender Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Prof Fidelis Allen, said a blighted environment portrays the nakedness of our civilisation and turns man’s dream into despair.
Allen, who is also an environmental crusader called for a more holistic approach towards the restoration and preservation of the natural environment.
According to him, only through such holistic approach and sound environmental awareness campaign can the ethical violation of environmental rights be curtailed and sustainable environmental growth sustained.
He called on the oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to always imbibe the tenets of international best practices in their operations and ensure that the natural environment is protected against gas flaring and oil spillages.
He described the Ogoni clean-up exercise as critical to the eventual remediation of other impacted sites in the Niger Delta communities and called on all affected stakeholders to expedite action to make the clean-up exercise a success.
Realising the importance of the natural environment, the American Novelist, Henry Beston warned: “Do not do dishonour to the earth lest you dishonour the spirit of man”. The implication of Beston’s warning is that by destroying his natural environment through unguarded conservation of its resources, man sets to consume himself in an inescapable catastrophe, the possibilities of which are too obvious to be ignored.
However, the production and consumption of energy is today a major indicator of modernisation process. Our modern civilisation is fuelled by the energy sector, particularly oil and gas and thus involves exploratory activities with attendant pollution problems and significant local and global implication. It is therefore suicidal to see that the very natural ingredients that nourish our lives are washed away in the name of technology or economic drive. It is left for us to heed to Beston’s warning or perish.

Oil & Energy

NSCDC’s Anti-Vandal Squad Uncovers Artisanal Refinery In Rivers Community

Published

2 weeks ago

April 15, 2024

The Tide

The Anti-Vandal Squad of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Rivers State Command, has uncovered yet another local refinery situated at Adobi-Akwa settlement in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The State Commandant, Basil Igwebueze, disclosed this while speaking to journalists shortly after the tour of the Illegal site.
Represented by the Head, Anti-Vandal Squad, CSC Peters Ibiso, Igwebueze said the squad made the discovery following a tipp off, expressing regret that no arrest was made as the boys fled the site upon sighting the squad.
The cammandant’s representative took the newsmen across a tick forest of about 6-7 kilometers from the main town.
The team sighted where the pipeline vandals tapped into the Well Head of yet to be ascertained multinational company, connected their galvanised pipes to several cooking pots, heat up the crude to produce Automotive Gas Oil (AGO).
In his words, “Upon receiving a tip-off, the Anti-Vandal operatives swung into action to uncover this illegal oil bunkering site. They were in this forest for two days having cordoned the area, unfortunately, the perpetrators upon sighting our men took to their heels, but investigation is still ongoing to effect the arrests of such defiant elements”.
The Anti-Vandal Unit Head further narrated the operation techniques of the operators of local illegal refineries from the point of extraction of crude through vandalism of oil pipelines to cooking in various ovens where the content is subjected to high temperature and transmitted through pipes to reservoirs for storage and onward trans- loading to buyers.
While insisting that the command would not relent in the fight against illegal dealings in petroleum products, he urged the public to have more trust in the NSCDC by providing actionable intelligence that would enhance possible arrest of economic saboteurs in the State.
“Our commitment to continuously work in tandem with the prosecutorial mandate of the corps in order to rid the State of economic saboteurs remains unchanged. We value our informants and most especially the intelligence driven tip-off received from time to time.
“It is also our duty to ensure that our source of information are not disclosed so as to protect our informants. It is therefore our delight that the public will continue to have confidence and trust in us as we together protect the nation’s critical national assets and infrastructure from dare devil vandals”, he stated.

By: Lady Godknows Ogbulu

Oil & Energy

Oil Fund Withdrawals Suggest Extended Price Rally

Published

2 weeks ago

April 15, 2024

The Tide

The world’s largest crude oil exchange-traded fund has bled over $2 billion in less than a year. And it i
s not due to investors finding greener pastures elsewhere with other ETFs; it is the siren call of soaring prices that is prompting this mass exodus.
The WisdomTree Brent Crude Oil exchange-traded commodity had assets under management of some $2.5 billion last summer, according to Bloomberg. Now, the publication reports, this is down to $396 million, with withdrawals accelerating over the past few days.
In that, withdrawals seem to be following price trends. Brent earlier this month topped $90 per barrel and, after a short pause earlier this week, is back above that threshold again following the latest Israeli strike on the Gaza Strip amid reports about a possible ceasefire.
While it is true that prices are currently driven higher mainly by geopolitical events, fundamentals are also at play. A growing number of forecasters are updating their predictions for benchmarks this year on expectations of resilient demand and increasingly tighter supply. And investors are following the trend.
Even those who have not sold their ETF holdings in order to invest more directly in the rally are benefitting. That same WisdomTree Brent Crude Oil ETC generated returns of over 13 percent during the first quarter of the year as opposed to an average 8.8% gain in the S&P 500.
The WisdomTree exchange-traded commodity became the world’s largest oil fund at the beginning of last year. The fund saw inflows of over $1 billion, which poured in as the deflation in oil prices that had begun in late 2022 extended into the new year. Now, the trend has reversed and it has reversed strongly.
The WisdomTree Brent Crude Oil ETC is not the only fund seeing outflows. The U.S. Oil Fund, which used to be the world’s biggest oil fund before the WisdomTree inflows last year and is now the world’s biggest oil fund once again, also saw a flurry of investor exits as benchmarks climbed higher.
According to Bloomberg, the fund’s assets under management currently stand at $1.3 billion, down from some $5 billion during the pandemic.
In further evidence that oil makes money, the Middle East is about to become the only region in the world with three trillion-dollar sovereign wealth funds. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is worth $993 billion, Bloomberg reported in March, while the Saudi Public Investment Fund and the Kuwait Investment Authority are breathing down its neck.
Meanwhile, investment in transition-related stocks is on the decline, according to data reported by Reuters. The S&P Global Clean Energy Index is down by 10% since the start of the year. In comparison, the S&P 500 Energy Index, which comprises Big Oil names, has gained 16.3%.
The data shows that investors are growing wary of all the promises made by transition advocates as evidence mounts that these were not based on due diligence. Wind and solar stocks suffered a crash last year when this first became clear.
Now, we are witnessing a continued awakening among investors to the challenges and the realistic potential of transition technology and alternative energy sources.
“With conventional energy having its own bull run, I think the alternative funds will struggle for the foreseeable future, and we shall see what the election brings”, the Managing Director of capital markets at Phoenix Capital Group Holdings told Reuters.
The comment summarizes the challenging situation for alternative energy investment and highlights the rebound of interest in oil and gas, much to the chagrin of decision-makers on both sides of the Atlantic.
In both Europe and the U.S., things can get even worse for the transition after the respective elections—in June for European Parliament and in November for U.S. President. It will certainly be an interesting year in energy.
Slav writes for oilprice.

By: Irina Slav

Oil & Energy

CNG Initiative: FG Targets 25,000 Jobs, $2.5bn Investment

Published

2 weeks ago

April 15, 2024

The Tide

The Programme Director and Chief Executive, Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiatives, Michael Oluwagbemi, has announced the Federal Government’s plan to target over 25,000 jobs and $2.5 billion worth of investment by 2027.
Oluwagbemi made this known during the Presidential CNG stakeholders’ engagement workshop held at BOVAS Auto-Gas Filling Stations, Ajibode Bus-Stop, in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, at the weekend.
He stated that the initiative, which was part of palliative measures to ease the burden of the removal of fuel subsidy, would attract enormous investment and job creation as well as impact positively on the lives of Nigerians.
Meanwhile, he called on Nigerians to embrace the new initiatives by the Federal Government as part of palliatives to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy in the country.
“On October 1, 2023, when the President gave his speech, he announced that the Presidential CNG initiatives are going to be rolled out as part of palliatives on the removal of fuel subsidy.
“One of our major concerns is to make sure that the transition for the transportation sector is a cheaper, safer, and more reliable source of energy.
“In the coming weeks, we are going to be announcing the conversion incentives programme which will enable Nigerians currently using PMS and Diesel fuel vehicles to be able to convert their vehicles at designated places across the country at a discounted price based on certain pre-qualification under the palliative programme of the Federal Government”, he said.
On the value chain of the initiative, Oluwagbemi explained that the Federal Ministry of Finance is acquiring tricycles and buses that would be assembled and manufactured in Nigeria, with more than five automobile firms being activated.
“The value chain of the programme starts with every one of us. From the point of converting your vehicle, you have created the demand for natural gas.
“If your vehicle is converted by technicians and refuelled by autogas workshops across the country, then you are creating jobs for civil engineers and technicians. You’re creating jobs for the upstream in terms of upstream activities associated with oil and gas.
“And in line with the programme, the Federal Ministry of Finance is acquiring a number of tricycles and buses that will be assembled and manufactured in Nigeria. More than five of our automobile firms have been activated. So, you can see that in terms of job creation, the opportunities for Nigerians are enormous.
“The President has said we need to convert one million vehicles by 2027. We need 1,000 conversion shops and we need over 3,000 filing stations just like this. You can imagine the level of investment required for this.
“In order to sustain one million vehicle conversions by 2027, we need 25,000 technicians. So, the job creation potential is an opportunity for job creation in addition to our gross domestic product, $2.5 billion worth of investment to be mobilised in the next four years and of course more than $25 billion added to our GDP”, he said.
Oluwagbemi further called on Nigerians to embrace the new initiatives by the Federal Government as part of palliatives to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy in the country.
The representative of BOVAS Filling Station, a private investor in the Presidential CNG Initiatives, Temitope Samson, said, “We have worked with the regulators, we are also working with the Presidential Initiatives on CNG to make sure that standard safety is adhered to. We have also worked with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria to ensure that we have a standard accepted internationally.
“Our role is to ensure that there is availability of CNG across the nation, and to also ensure we have enough kits and tanks that are converted for people to use as many as possible, and to ensure safety and to train others so that anywhere they get to, they have very safe conversion”.
Recall that last year, President Bola Tinubu approved the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas initiative(PCNG-i)
This initiative aims to not only introduce more than 11,500 new CNG-enabled vehicles and provide 55,000 CNG conversion kits for existing vehicles that depend on Premium Motor Spirit but also promote local manufacturing, assembly, and job creation.