OIL Spillage: SPDC intensifies clean-up in Aghoro, Odimodi
L-R: Lead, Subsurface Shallow Water, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), Kefe Amrasa; Outgoing Chairman, Nigeria Council of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Chikezie Nwozu; Managing Director, Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company, Bayo Ojulari and Shell’sVice President, Health, Safety and Environment, Osa Igiehon, at the presentation of The Best Exhibitor Award to Shell at the just-concluded SPE Nigeria annual conference and exhibition in Lagos.
The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) said it has recovered over 95 percent of spilled oil from the recent spill incidents on sections of the Trans Ramos Pipeline (TRP) in Aghoro community, Bayelsa State, and in Odimodi community in Delta State.
The pipeline, which has remained shut-in since the incidents, supplies crude to the SPDC Joint Venture-owned Forcados Oil Terminal in western Niger Delta for export.
In a statement, a spokesperson for SPDC acknowledged the spills as very regrettable, adding that in line with the standard operating procedures of SPDC, the TRP was shut down immediately the incidents were reported and the Oil Spill Response and the Emergency Response teams were activated to manage the incidents and prevent further spillage.
“As soon as clean-up and site assessment are completed, we are committed to starting the immediate remediation of the impacted areas in Aghoro and Odimodi,” the spokesperson said.
According to the spokesperson, details of the cause and impact of the spills will be captured in the Joint Investigation Visits (JIV) reports, which will be released after sign-off by all parties.
“The JIV is a multi-party exercise involving the regulators, the community, representatives of the state government, security agencies, and representatives of SPDC. The outcome is then signed off by the stakeholders to authenticate the findings,” the spokesperson explained.
In another development, SPDC has named the best exhibitor at the just-concluded annual conference and exhibition of the Nigeria Council of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), beating to the second and third positions Chevron and Exxon Mobil respectively.
Speaking on the conference theme, “Diversification of the Nigerian Economy – The Oil & Gas Industry as an Enabler,”Bayo Ojulari called for a diversification roadmap bearing the commitment signature of major stakeholders in the Nigerian project. “With such a roadmap, we are able to track performance year-in year-out while remaining focused.”
Ojulari added, “For Nigeria to diversify its economy, it must leverage the low hanging fruits such as agriculture, petrochemicals, which use gas as its feedstock and most importantly, education and technology.”
At the awards ceremony, two Shell staff, Oghogho Effiom and Stella Egwim, received the SPE Nigeria Chairman Medallion awards while 10 other Shell staff got Service awards. The awards demonstrate a strong Shell participation at the 2018 SPE conference at which 20 technical papers were delivered by Shell staff out of 150 papers constituting about 13% from Shell .
“Over the years, Shell Companies in Nigeria have continued to demonstrate thought leadership at flagship industry events such as the SPE and we continue to promote self-development and professional affiliation by our staff as part of our wider human capacity development in Nigeria,” said Ojulari who received the best exhibitor award from the outgoing SPE Nigeria Council Chairman, Mr. Chikezie Nwosu.
Shell’s exhibition stand combined aesthetics, architecture, informative posters, panel discussion sessions, career talks, video presentations and the ever popular Shell Health stand, to be a central attraction at the conference.
Visitors who thronged the Shell booth were received by the Lead exhibitor, Kefe and team. The guests were drawn from oil servicing firms, equipment manufacturers, student, professional and academic bodies as well as international and indigenous oil contractors and companies.
