Community sources and fishermen are reporting an oil spill from the Qua Iboe oil fields that could be seen along the coastline on Monday afternoon.
Community sources and fishermen are reporting an oil spill from the Qua Iboe oil fields that could be seen along the coastline on Monday afternoon.
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A yet to be ascertained volume of crude was discharged into the Atlantic by Exxon Mobil, polluting its host communities in Ibeno Akwa Ibom.
A statement said the company “confirms that oiling from an unknown source has been sighted along the shoreline near Ibeno, Akwa Ibom state.”]
Officials of ExxonMobil are already in talks with community leaders with a view to mitigate protests regarding the spills.
A community source told SaharaReporters that the oil firm had made ‘juicy’ promises to the chiefs they invited for talks.
National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) was dispatched to investigate the incident at the spill site and said the volume of the spill cannot be immediately ascertained.
“It is not possible to know exactly how much crude is involved at this point, we are still going to run fingerprint tests that will show the source.
“When you know the source then the volume can be computed from the amount of production lost during the incident,” a NOSDRA source said.
Sahara Reporters has learned that officials of MPN as well as NOSDRA both visited the spill site and took samples of the deposits for tests.
A local chief in Ibeno Akwa Ibom in a response confirmed that the oil company involved them in discussions on the spill noticed by fishermen from the community.
“ We have been invited to the terminal, obviously to discuss the incident which we have reported to them but nothing has happened yet by way of clean up,” the chief said.
ExxonMobil has yet to comment on the spill which reportedly emanated from its fields some 18 kilometers from the coastline.
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