A field report by the Environmental Rights
Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN,
reveals a leak in an underwater gas pipeline that
belongs to Nigerian Agip Oil Company, NAOC, at
Kalaba community in Yenagoa Local Government
Area of Bayelsa State on Saturday.
The report, by Mr Morris Alagoa, Head of Field
Operations at ERA/FoEN, revealed that the gas
leakage came from an underwater gas pipeline
beneath Taylor Creek. ERA/FoEN, a civil society
group, noted that the gas leaking at high
pressure was causing giant bubbles in Taylor
Creek which serves as the sole source of water
for the communities.
“What we are seeing is the bubbling of
gas leaking from NOAC’s pipeline.
This
was discovered in the early hours of
Saturday. I got to hear about it first when
some children were shouting that oil was
bubbling and that there was a leakage.
“As a trained field monitor, I also came
around to see what was happening in the
environment, whether what I heard was
true. When I paddled down here by canoe,
I discovered that it was true, gas was
actually bubbling. “Incidentally, this Creek
is our only source of drinking water and
where we carry out almost all domestic
activities. Right now, the water is
polluted.
“As a monitor of the environment, I
promptly informed the ERA/FoEN
because, that is the organisation we know
that has been helping us to reach out to
Agip whenever such things happen,” the
report said.
It advised the oil firm to immediately deploy to
the site and shut the source of the gas leak to
forestall further pollution of the environment and
exposure of residents to toxic associated gas.
Vanguard
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