Over 36.1 million litres of crude oil, enough to fill about 1,090 oil tankers, has been spilled on water, farmland and Nigeria’s seas in the oil-rich Niger Delta by oil companies, especially Shell
GUARDIAN
• ‘IOCs, independent producers concealed quantities of spill 1,596 different times’
• Stakeholders seek environmental remediation fund, halt on divestment
• Local producers fingered in rising cases, 247,527 barrels poured into inland waters since 2016
• ‘Ororo oil well in Ondo spilling crude since 2020’
Over 36.1 million litres of crude oil, enough to fill about 1,090 oil tankers, has been spilled on water, farmland and Nigeria’s seas in the oil-rich Niger Delta by oil companies, especially Shell, Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited (NAOC) and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
The spill, which occurred between 2016 and 2023 as per data obtained from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor domiciled with the National Oil Spill Detection and Rescue Agency showed that cases of spill and pollution of water as well as land may be going from bad to worse.
Despite the rapid push to save biodiversity, over 75 per cent of the spills went directly into the sea, swamp and land to worsen biodiversity and take away the livelihood of thousands, especially farmers and fishermen, who are already facing poverty and climate crisis as 25 per cent of the oil spill destroyed inland water that communities rely on for drinking.
This comes amidst divestment plans by oil companies and rising legal battles between communities and oil firms as the implementation of the recommendations of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on the clean-up of Ogoniland remained elusive.
While Nigerian oil companies are moving in to acquire assets of multiple nationals, which may include their liabilities, the development has thrown up several legal battles with some stakeholders asking for a stronger policy that would address environmental concerns.
While Shell, NOAC, Chevron and other multinationals are topping the chart from NOSDRA’s data, independent oil companies like Aiteo, Seplat, Midwestern, First E&P, Eroton and others who are moving in to take over divested assets are being fingered by stakeholders for rising spills.
Some stakeholders accused the government of complicity knowing well that NNPC has shares and revenue across oil blocks.
In barrels, the spill in 2023 stood at 12,274; it was 45,836 in 2022. In 2021; the spill was 22,318; it was 21,110 in 2020 and 39,345 in 2019. It stood at 28,827 in 2018; it was 35,076 in 2017 and 42,741 in 2016.
Within this period, 247,527 barrels of oil worth $19.8 million were spilled, notwithstanding the amount of money it will cost to clean up the environment.
While about 246,927 barrels of the spill in the period went into open sea, swamp and land, over 600 barrels according to NOSDRA went into streams and Rivers, where communities source water for consumption.
Besides, over 502 of the spill sites over the eight years were not visited by any joint investigator as the oil companies, going by NOSDRA data, failed to release information, especially the number of spills in over 1,596 different cases.
In 2023, the country recorded the highest level of spill as the cases stood at 912, it was 628 in 2022, 407 in 2021, 440 in 2020, 729 in 2019, 715 in 2018, 603 in 2017 and 686 in 2016. This brought the cases to about 5,120 within eight years.
