PHOTONEWS: Royal Dutch Shell’s Fresh Oil Spill At Taylor Creek In Kilama, Bayelsa State

Posted: May 6, 2013 - 12:05

See report by    Environmental Rights Action (ERA) / Friends Of The Earth Nigeria (FoEN)

Report by: Alagoa Morris
INTRODUCTION: Biseni is a clan of Ijaw speaking communities. And, Kilama is one of the communities in the clan.Shell Petroleum Development Company [SPDC] and the Nigerian Agip Oil Company [NAOC] have crude oil bearing pipelines and oil wells in the environment and, one of the things the people of Biseni can talk about oil exploration/exploitation in their environment; is oil spills and related impacts to the environment, health and livelihood of the people. Like other Ijaw communities, the traditional occupation of the people are fishing and farming.
Field monitors of Environmental Rights ACTION/Friends of the Earth Nigeria [ERA/FoEN] were informed of a spreading crude oil slick on the Taylor Creek.
The information had it that the oil slick was sighted at Ikarama community, in Okordia clan and that it was suspected to be coming from either JK4 in Ahoada West local government area of Rivers State or from Biseni; in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State. After following up with some calls, contacts in Biseni confirmed that there was an oil spill which flowed into the Taylor Creek at Kilama. And so, ERA’s field monitors had to visit the community/site of the spill and investigate the claim of the crude flowing into the Creek. A member of the family that owned the land where the spill occurred led ERA to the spill site with two other indigenes. They also led ERA to the point where the water course that carried the crude oil empties into the Taylor Creek; about a hundred meters away from the spill site. The spill point had already been clamped when ERA visited.
About The Spill:
According to Moses Onyah, an elderly man in his 60s and who is also a member of the landlords family [where the spill happened],…We heard of the spill on SUNDAY, 28th April, 2013. But the spill must have occurred in the night of 27th. If not for the spraying into the air that attracted passersby we wouldn’t have known in time. SPDC came to stop/clamp the ruptured point on 30th April, 2013.As per the cause of spill, we are not sure; but SPDC claimed it was sabotage. You can see that this place is sloppy [pointing at the spill area] and the running rivulet is just about three meters away. The crude oil flowed into the rivulet and down it goes into the Taylor Creek. The Taylor Creek is not far from here; if people say they saw crude oil spreading to their community, it may be from here. If you are interested, let’s get to the Taylor Creek and see with your eyes….
Observation/Conclusion:
The spill point was very close to the road leading to Biseni, almost by a metal bridge that is constructed across a fast flowing [one directional] rivulet. The water was flowing down, towards the Taylor Creek. At the spill site, though the leaves of vegetation were oily, there was little or no crude oil on the ground; because of the topography and nearness of the spill point to the fast running water of the rivulet. Besides, the area of the pipe that was clamped was never cleared of obstacles like dead palm fronds and other plants. Some fishing gears [nets and traps], some on land and others were in the water. At the point where the rivulet flows into the Taylor Creek, apart from fishing nets that were noticed across the water, an emergency boom to prevent the crude oil from flowing into the creek was in place; constructed with palm fronds and wood. It was obvious that this was a last minute effort to prevent the spread of the crude oil and, not much crude oil was retained by the boom. Thick crude oil slick was noticed trapped by some floating woods at the bank of the Taylor Creek even as some quantity of the slick moved with the current downstream; towards JK4 and Ikarama. Any major spill that spreads on this creek will affect even communities in Gbaran, in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State. ERA’s field monitors observed the sheen up to Ikarama and Kalaba communities.
ERA Demands
1    Every spill should be properly investigated by the Joint Investigation Team [JIT] before arriving at the cause of spill and stated in the JIT report.
2    The community should be given its copy of the JIT report.
3    SPDC should effectively monitor the spill and follow up with clean up. The relevant agencies of government should also play roles expected of them in this regard. The environment must be protected in the interest of our people’s health, livelihood and sustainability of the environment.
4    Community folks should, not only monitor their environment but also take steps to discourage sabotage of oil facilities. They should take keen interest in the causes of spills within their environment.