Nigeria: Government Agencies Blame Bayelsa Wellhead Blowout on Sabotage

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), two critical federal government agencies investigating the recent oil blowout on an Aiteo facility in Bayelsa, have linked the leak to sabotage.

During a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to the Santa Barbara River, Nembe, both organisations agreed that the wind valve may have been tampered with by yet to be identified persons, leading to the spill.

NOSDRA is the federal government agency responsible for monitoring and responding to oil spills in Nigeria and acts between oil companies and communities at the local and state level.

Earlier, the Minister of State for the Environment, Sharon Ikeazor, had set up the body to ascertain the cause of the spill, the volume and impacted area.

Usually, a JIV is convened by the operator of the affected facility and comprises representatives of the oil firm, affected communities, regulators and state ministry of environment.

During the visit, a representative of the NURPC, Mr. Adetoyinbo Adeyemi, stated that physical examination of the failed wellhead from an engineering point of view indicate that the pressure from the asset was not enough to blow the well.

He argued that the wind valve which he said was designed to withstand all kinds of pressure could not have failed if it wasn’t tampered with, explaining that the fact that the facility wasn’t even producing at the time, made it even more improbable to suspect any other cause.

“We are here to establish the cause of the incident that happened at the Santa Barbara well 1. From the findings, you can see that there’s no spill anymore. Where the spill came out from is from the wind valve.

“The wind valve has been replaced now. That means that the wind valve the way it was, is not designed to fail like that because there are bolts surrounding it, well designed to keep the pressure in place.

“So, if it had not been taken off, there is no way it could have moved from there. When it was reported initially, there was no valve in that place and it could not be found. So, to us, it is an act of sabotage.

“Before that well’s assembly was designed, it was done to take care of any pressure from that well and as you know, the well had not been producing for a long time, and there was no pressure to take off the valve because they are called the barriers to ensure that such an environment where it has been installed is not affected.

“So, if you are trying to compare an apple with an orange, it’s going to be a wrong thing. Another thing is that if you can go back and read, you will find out the valve is not designed to fail except somebody goes there to mess it up,” he stated.

Also, NOSDRA’s Ismail Baba-Ahmed, traced the leak to the same cause, stressing that from his expertise on fluid mechanics and his interactions with the wellhead experts who plugged the leak, only vandalism could have led to the blowout.

He explained that he gathered from the wellhead engineers that the threading on the wellhead casing where the valve was removed was not worn out, a development that suggested that the leak was not caused by pressure.

The leak which was reported on November 5, was plugged on December 8, with some 16, 000 barrels of crude and crude sediments said to have been recovered from the site.

The well, which was acquired from Shell by Aiteo has had a life of 20 years so far, but was shut in at the time the blowout happened.

Officials of the company alleged that some persons who claimed to have been on surveillance duty had been arrested earlier by security agents near the site and are currently being interrogated.

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

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