TheCable

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says it will ensure that compensation is paid to communities affected by the recent oil spillage at Nembe LGA, Bayelsa state.

A wellhead in the Santa Barbara South field had blown on November 5, and since then, it had been spewing oil into the water bodies.

It is jointly owned by Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company (AEEPCO) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

In a statement on Saturday, Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer (CEO) of NUPRC, said the commission will continue to guide AEEPCO until the situation is addressed.

This, he said, includes implementing physical and engineering solutions on the incident, managing the safety of response providers and people in the neighbouring communities and periodically educating the public on the situation.

“In specific terms, the commission will ensure that the pressure from the well is stopped to put an end to the oil release, the already released oil is appropriately contained and skimmed off as it is being released, a joint investigation visit (JIV) is conducted as soon as it is safe to do so, cleanup and restorative actions are done immediately after the spill is stopped and compensation paid to affected communities timeously and in accordance with the law,” the statement reads.

“We appreciate the concerns raised in different quarters following the incident and wish to inform the general public and our stakeholders that the commission has taken all necessary steps alongside the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the situation does not degenerate further.

“Remediation actions are already on-going to ensure that the spill is contained and the situation is brought under effective control.”

Komolafe clarified that there was no life lost as a result of the spill.

“Our preliminary investigations have revealed that there were no fatalities in the incident. However crude oil and gas were seen gushing out from valves close to the top of the wellhead at high pressure but without any associated fire,” he said.

“The water surrounding the wellhead was polluted with oil. The affected well had been previously shut-in and therefore not producing at the time of incident.

“While the incident is to be treated with care and the location approached with caution by only those authorised to do so, the commission wishes to reiterate that there is no cause for panic.”

As part of its strategic plan for incident management, Komolafe said the operators had been mandated to activate environmental management plans (EMP) which include environmental compliance monitoring (ECM), among other response actions.

“At the end of the clean-up exercise, the commission will supervise all the operators to conduct post impact assessment (PIA) studies to determine the far-reaching effects of the spills, with a view to restoring all impacted environments as near as possible to their pristine state,” he added.

The NUPRC boss said the commission is taking necessary action to ensure that the spill and associated incidents have the least impact on the affected communities and the environment.