Details of the largest single oil spill of 2014, highlighted by local media group Sahara Reports in an article from July last year, has yet to appear on NOSDRA’s Oil Spill Monitor map and has been ignored by media – almost a year after it was initially recorded – according to NACGOND.
The oil spill near Eket on June 29th 2014, spilled an estimated 30,000 bbls of oil into the mangroves and coastline of the Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. This is equivalent to an entire tanker of oil and if true makes this spill comparable to the massive Bonga spill of 2011.
If this figure is correct it would double the total reported quantity of oil spilled across the Niger Delta for the entire year.
A release issued by the environmental action group, Peace Point Action, at the time of the spill said:
“Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), the Nigerian unit of ExxonMobil has recorded yet another oil spill in its operation in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The spill occurred Sunday 29th June, 2014 which the community estimates it at over 15 thousand barrels discharged to the Atlantic coastline.”
NACGOND is currently asking MPN and NOSDRA, the oil spill regulator, to clarify the details of the oil spill and release all documentation about it’s environmental and human impact and clarify plans for cleanup and compensation.
Read the original report of the spill on the Sahara Reporters website
