A fresh oil spill from facilities belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has devastated the environment of Egbebiri community in Biseni Clan of the Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
Newsfocusng gathered that the incident, happened on May 7, concurred from wellheads 5 and 11 operated by Agip.
Sources said the spewed crude oil had impacted trees, shrubs, grasses and terrestrial creatures.
Mr George ThankGod, the contact man for Agip in Biseni, however confirmed the incident and described it as “terrible”, saying it had polluted the environment.
He claimed that the oil spill was caused by equipment failure, said: “NAOC is the owner of this facility, Wells 5 and 11 where the spill happened on the 7th around 10:00pm till about 8:00am before they came and tried to stop it. And the level of damage is something terrible.
According to him; “When I came to site I met the military men on duty and I asked them what happened. They informed me that on that 7th (of May, 2021) the noise on the Well, the Christmas Tree was very high and they called the authorities (NAOC) and they came on that 7th May, to reduce the pressure of the well.
“After they left, at night they saw the spill incident and it was all over the place. And it continued until the following morning which is on the 8th of May, 2021. So I also, on my own called NAOC , that is Agip; that there is a spillage.”
He,therefore, called on the oil company, federal and state governments to come to the aid of Egbebiri as well as take steps for the remediation of the community’s environment.
He further said, “We have bush mango, we also have what we call bush rice all over. This is a forest where our people come to earn our living. We have snails and different animals too. But now, as I am saying, the environment is polluted.
“So, we need urgent response from NAOC. The spill occurred from Idu Well 11 and it was due to equipment failure.’’
