On Sunday, August 10, fire gutted a spill site on a Shell
Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) oil field in Ayambele and Kalaba
communities in Yenagoa Local Government of Bayelsa State. The fire was suspected
to have been started by oil workers engaged by Shell. The spill site, which was
being remediated by SPDC, was polluted by an oil spill from Shell’s Okordia
Manifold at Ikarama community in June.
A Joint Investigation report on the spill blamed the
discharge of 629 barrels of crude into the environment on vandalism. The report
stated that the spill impacted a total area of 3.4 hectares including swamps,
farms and built up areas beyond SPDC’s right of way.
Mr Monibo Joel, Youth President of Ayambele community, said
the crude oil from the Okordia Manifold spread into Kalaba and Ayambele swamps.
According to him, the communities woke up on Sunday to see the strange fire,
which continues to burn off the crude deposits on the land and swamps.
He further noted that the clean-up of the June spill
incident was underway at the time, prompting the suspicion that the clean-up
contractors may have ignited the fire to expedite that process.
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