NIMASA Accuses Shell of Cover-up as Oil Major Reports Fresh New Spill

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has rebuked Shell for not taking full responsibility for the colossal oil spill, at its Bonga facility, the multinational oil major reported late December.

Shell had earlier released statements that it had taken the initiative to employ dispersants to contain the leak and that the leak had infact been contained.

Yet when fishermen and residents in coastal areas of Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom reported dying fish and oil contamination of their waters emanating from the oil spill, Shell was quick to deny the allegations and instead stated that the oil pollution at these locations must have come from a secondary source. Shell further stated that even though it was not the originator of this “secondary” contamination that it, as a good “corporate citizen” had gone ahead to curb the effects of the disaster by further employing dispersants.

NIMASA DG, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, has faulted Shell’s claims and stated that Shell has not produced any evidence that there was another cause of this purported “3^rd party spill”. He also stated that NIMASA’s investigation had revealed that there was in fact no 3^rd party responsible for any sills in that region according to their investigations.

Akpobolokemi said to journalists in Lagos yesterday, “Shell has neither behaved properly nor responsibly in this matter. Their response to the spill falls short of national and international standards…From our investigation so far, even though the spill was announced December 20, we are sure the spill occurred long before that date…I am sure they have tried to cover up the spill until it became unbearable for them and they had no choice than to make the spill public.”

Also media reports this morning suggest that Shell has shut down the Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL) following a fresh oil leak.

Shell’s Vice-President for Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), Sub-Saharan Africa, Mr.Tony Attah, has said the leak was caused by oil thieves.

“What is really worrying about this leak is that it happened on a facility which was commissioned in October 2009 to replace an old line which was repeatedly targeted by crude oil thieves. Sadly, the crude thieves continue to hinder efforts to maintain the integrity of key national oil and gas assets,”

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One Comment

1. 

   Komboye

   January 11, 2012 at 12:01 am

    the statement of NIMASA DG boils down to mere speculation.what we need is hard fact and evidence.we have earlier heard from NIMASA deputy DG that there is need for forensic or scientific analysis to determine the source of this so called secondary spill and that sample had been collected for that purpose.has the analysis been conducted and what is the result?from the finger print collected,who owns the offensive oil?these are some of the questions that need to be answered.it is not enough to tell us what u think and what u do not think.if SPDC or any other company is allowed to escape liability for this massive pollution of our environment NIMASA,NOSDRA and DPR will be held responsible.it is the collective duty of these agencies of the federal govt to detect the spill and pinpoint the culprit.no amount of political statement will make SPDC to pay compensation to the affected communities and the local population if their is no concrete evidence that the oil samples collected from the affected communities matches the oil that spewed from the bonga oil field facility of shell.the govt should wake up to their responsibility and not trying to hide their incompetence under some grandstanding speculative statements.i don’t have any reason to commend the NIMASA DG until he comes forward with this all important proof of SPDC’s liability.otherwise we shall have no other option than to drag these agencies of the govt to court for failing in their duty to us as Nigerians suffering from the deleterious effect of this mother of all oil pollution.