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The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) says it has subjected a section of the 14″ Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline to third-pary examination in a bid to resolve the dispute on the cause of a November 12, 2019 leak at Shell’s oilfields in Bayelsa State.
Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) disagreed with the findings of a joint investigation of the spill incident, which had pointed at corrosion, and rendered the investigation inconclusive.
The breached part of the pipe was cut out and taken to NOSDRA’s office where the spill agency deployed Ultrasonic Testing Method (UTM) to scan and examine the pipe, but the results were not accepted by SPDC.
Mr Idris Musa, director-general/chief executive officer at NOSDRA said that the investigation to resolve the dispute on the cause of the spill was yet to be concluded
“The matter is not resolved yet, because we want to get an unbiased report on the cause of the spill whether it was due to corrosion or third party interference.
“The agency insists that the UTM exercise be carried out by SGS so that we can all be assured of a very clear and technologically proven cause notwithstanding some quarters’ allegation of perceived “sweeping under the carpet,” Musa said.
Reacting to the development, Mr Bamidele Odugbesan, Media Relations manager, SPDC said that the oil firm had agreed on the recommendations by NOSDRA to invite a third-party to reexamine the pipeline.
“On 24th November 2019, we received a report of a leak on the 14” Okordia-Rumuekpe Trunkline at Ikarama in Bayelsa State.
“The same day we isolated the injecting facility and contained the spill to stop a spread. In this case, not much oil was sighted at the incident site.
“The host community initially refused to grant site access to the JIV team, but, eventually, a team of representatives of the host community, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, and SPDC conducted a JIV on 28th and 29th November 2019.
“Though the team identified a leak suspected to be due to external interference with 6mm cut on the pipeline, the JIV Report (incident no. 2513692) was signed off by all representatives with agreement for further investigation into cause of leak.
“The spool with the leak point was subsequently cut off in June 2020 and transferred to NOSDRA’s field office in Bayelsa State for examination.
“This further investigation by the same JIV team re-examined the affected cut-out piece using SPDC’s Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing Technology on 16th July 2020 at NOSDRA’s office.
“The assessment team could not agree on the cause of the leak from the inspection data taken. But the team has agreed to and is implementing NOSDRA’s recommendation that an independent investigation be conducted by a certified third party,” Odugbesan said.