There is palpable tension in Akuku Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State after fire explosions rocked an oil field which is operated by Eroton Exploration and Production Limited.
This ugly incident was reported by the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Tuesday confirmed that it was in receipt of a report of a fire incident at two oil wells operated by Eroton Exploration and Production Limited (EEPL).
Director-General of NOSDRA, Mr. Idris Musa, said that the twin incidents occured at Akaso Wells 14 and 4T Wellheads, on Monday.
Musa explained that following the notification of the incident to the Agency, the company, officials of the spills agency, oil firm’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) were immediately mobilised to the site.
Read Also: Massive Explosions Destroy Russian Air Base In Crimea
He said: ‘The company has mobilised a vendor, which is expected to arrive the incident location today, October 4, 2022 to extinguish the raging fire from the Wells; the Agency will supervise the activity accordingly.
‘An illegal boat was observed at the location, which was suspected to be engaged in oil theft. The boat has been completely burnt but the fire on the boat has been extinguished.
‘The two Wells are however, still on fire until the vendor arrives to extinguish it.’
The Director-General said that a situation room was created by the company for effective communication with all relevant stakeholders.
According to him, NOSDRA subsequently directed the company to give a two-hourly update on the incident.
In a related development, there was a huge pandemonium in the Koluama community, Southern Ijaw Local Government Council Area of Bayelsa State, on Friday, which came after the invasion and shutting down of some of the oil facilities which were being operated by Conoil Producing Limited by angry youths over alleged non-implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding with host communities.
Africa Today News, New York had also learnt that the breached oil facility known as Ango 2 field, operated by Conoil since 2013, has a crude oil production capacity of over 30,000 barrels per day.
It was also gathered that the aggrieved indigenes, including women, youths, and elders, caught security personnel stationed on the facilities unawares and demanded the shutdown of operations at the facility with placards inscriptions such as “No MoU, No Crude oil exploration”, “Conoil pack and go”, “We are tired of suffering” and “Koluama people are suffering”.
The decision of the aggrieved community indigenes was also backed by the members and the stakeholders of the Koluama Oil and Gas Committee, which were insisting that the oil multinational have failed in the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, which spelt out the social obligations of the oil firm to its host communities.