Well Shell's safety and maintenance culture is finally paying off as they send a special Christmas gift to all their friends in the communities of the Niger Delta, which doubtless they'll blame on the local villagers
The oil spill near the coast of Nigeria which forced oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC to shut down its 200,000 bpd oilfields in Bonga is likely the worst to hit those waters in a decade, a government official said Thursday.
Peter Idabor, head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency told the Associated Press that the slick from Shell's Bonga field has affected 115 miles of ocean near Nigeria's coast, and is approaching the southern shoreline.
Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches in Rivers state by Thursday afternoon. The spill likely occurred as workers for major oil-producing company tried to offload oil onto a waiting tanker, the AP reported.
Idabor said that while the source of the leak has been plugged, the spill still proves a threat to the shoreline and wildlife of the region. The company claims that 50 per cent of the spill, which they said on Wednesday was likely less than 40,000 barrels or 1.68 million gallons, has evaporated.
Idabor said the spill is the “most major one” since the Mobil spill of 1998 and said experts from Britain were coming to help with the clean-up, according to the AP.
Slicks from the Bonga spill likely will reach beaches near Forcados on Thursday, affecting wildlife there, Idabor told the AP.
Never mind, it's only costing them $21.47 million a day, while the coastal communities will be suffering the effects on their environment for years to come. If this had happened on land, the community on which the facility was would have been blamed for it. Shell would have screamed sabotage
Shell Shuts Down Bonga Production
Many of the people I know who worked there left because they were unhappy with what they perceived as a lack of real maintenance culture, despite what Shell may declare in it's public corporate persona.
Never mind, I'm sure Shell will put more of a gloss on this than their 40,000 barrels of oil will put on the shoreline
Shell announced on Wednesday that “likely less than” 40,000 barrels of oil had spilled into the waters.
The company explained in a statement that the spill had occurred with some of the workers had been transferring oil into a waiting tanker. They also reported that it had plugged the source of the spill and shut down oilfield to avoid further damage.
However the damage already done is daunting. Peter Idabor, head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency told the Associated Press that the slick from Shell’s Bonga field has affected 115 miles of ocean near Nigeria’s coast.
Idabor said officials expect the slick to reach beaches in Rivers state by Thursday afternoon. However, a statement released by the company gave a different account of the extent of the damages.
“We now assess that up to 50% of the leaked oil has already dissipated due to natural dispersion and evaporation. As satellite pictures have shown, the overall area covered by the sheen is large. However, the sheen itself is very thin (less than a hundredth of a millimetre) in most areas.”
Shell published some photos as well, showing affected areas of the water. Speaking to the AP, Idabor said while the leak has been plugged the spill still proves a threat to the shoreline and wildlife in the area.
Idabor said the spill is the “most major one” since the Mobil spill of 1998 and said experts from Britain were coming to help with the clean-up, according to the AP.
Slicks from the Bonga spill likely will reach beaches near Forcados on Thursday, affecting wildlife there, Idabor told the AP.
Merry Christmas inhabitants of the Niger Delta - coming soon to a beach near you