The joint investigation committee comprising regulators, operators of the well Aiteo, regulators, Nembe community representatives and engineering consultants from Kenyon International dispatched to the Nembe spill has determined that the spill was caused as a result of third party interference.
Crude oil from a blowout had been pouring into creeks in the Santa Babara well river in the Bayelsa state since Nov. 5, 2021 with the well’s owner, Nigerian energy firm, Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production unable to contain the spill until Kenyon International West Africa Company Limited, a Nigerian-owned oil and gas servicing company was called upon to assist with arresting the leakage.
“We were able to install the well control package hydraulically, rigged up and killed the well. It was only after suppressing the formation pressure that we were able to retrieve the well control package and installed a new one” said Victor Ekpenyong, CEO of Kenyon International West Africa Company Limited, the wild well control experts who put a stop to the oil spillage.
Victor Ekpenyong also disclosed that Aiteo was working with Kenyon International to ensure another oil spillage does not happen in Nembe and other regions again.
“Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production have proactively made efforts to take an inventory of some of their wells that are not flowing, to determine wells that can be exposed to third-party interference to ensure Nembe community does not experience this kind of appalling incident anymore,” he added.
The representative of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Ismail Baba Ahmed declared that the Leakage was caused by third-party interference.
“There was no way the internal pressure from the well would have removed the valves. The most likely cause that could remove those valves were external human influence” he said.
Biriyai Dambo, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Bayelsa state however said the report does not align with the position of the state government.
“In protest, we did not sign that document. We even asked them to allow us to state our position. Our own avowed position is that it was equipment failure.”
Chief Andrew Oru, Representative of Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company, operators of the affected well said the report of the investigation was corroboration of their earlier findings.
“From the findings and information gathered by well control experts, it has been made succinctly clear that this well could not have a blowout under whatever circumstances because of the way it was designed to be; unless there was third-party interference. The experts who killed the well have come forward to say the same thing. Others have buttressed the same position” he said.
Kenyon International have made conscious efforts to send relief materials to the people of Nembe community and Aiteo also empathized with the community over the hardship experienced and pledged to the remediation of the environment.