Exxon Mobil causes oil spill in Akwa Ibom

An oil spill has been detected along the coast of southern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom, near operations for US giant ExxonMobil, the company said Monday, but the cause and size of the leak remained unclear.

Exxon local subsidiary Mobil Producing Nigeria confirmed the spill, with residents also reporting seeing oil deposits along the coast.

A statement said the company “confirms that oiling from an unknown source has been sighted along the shoreline near Ibeno, Akwa Ibom state.”

An emergency response team has been sent to the shoreline and a sample has been collected “to determine its source, which remains unknown,” the statement said. Government agencies have been notified, it added.

A regional director of the state-run National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Irvin Obot, confirmed the spill. He said his agency could not yet estimate the quantity.

“Investigations are already under way to determine the source and cause of the spill,” Obot said.

Community residents and fishermen reported sighting oil along the Atlantic coastline in Ibeno, an oil community where Exxon has facilities. Exxon also has offshore operations in the area.

The village head of Ibeno’s Atia community, Obong Ukott Esenem, said fishermen noticed the spill.

“Our community has witnessed another oil spill which has taken its negative toll on the environment,” he told AFP.

Meanwhile, both Exxon Mobil and the affected community have made a formal report of the spill at the Qua Iboe oil fields to the Nigerian authorities.

Mr Irvin Obot, the Zonal Director of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone that the agency received the report of the spill on Monday.

“Both the community and Mobil reported that there was an oil spill; Mobil said it was a ‘mystery’ spill and we have since dispatched our staff to the site.

“Investigations are already under way to determine the source and cause of the spill and a fingerprint analysis would trace the source of the oil leakage,” Obot said.

NAN gathered that officials of MPN as well as NOSDRA had both visited the spill site and taken samples of the deposits for further analysis.

Reacting to the development, Obong Ukott Esenem, the Village Head of Atia community in Ibeno council area of the state, told NAN that the spill was noticed by fishermen from the community.

“Our community has witnessed another oil spill which has taken its negative toll on the environment; three officials of NOSDRA have visited the community to assess the extent of the spill.

“We, as a community, are in a meeting with the oil firm on the development,” he said.

When contacted, Mr Akaninyene Esiere, the Public Affairs Manager at Mobil’s Qua Iboe Terminal, said that the company was studying the situation and would issue a statement in due course.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer. Its oil-producing Niger Delta region has been contaminated by decades of pollution.

Spills occur frequently in the region due to a range of factors, including sabotage by oil thieves or militants as well as operational or maintenance faults by the oil companies.