A high-pressure discharge from an idle oil well in Bendick Kiri, Okpoama Kingdom, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State has sacked residents of the area.
The non-producing oil well is operated by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
The oil well, Kurogbagba 1, is located within Oil Mining Lease 66.
The sound from the intense pressure, forcing the oil and gas out of the wellhead and polluting the environs, could be heard from a distance.
It was gathered that officials of the National Spills Detection and Response Agency have visited the site with representatives of the operating firm.
The leader of the fishermen in Bendick Kiri, Monday Okon, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday that the leakage, which was noticed three days earlier, had yet to stop.
Okon said everybody in the predominantly fishing settlement had left due to safety concerns as they used fire to dry fish.
He said the toxic smell of the gaseous discharge had also exposed the people to danger, hence, their decision to flee. “We are afraid the place will be engulfed in flames because we are very close to the oil well.
“If we catch fish, we can’t dry them due to the risk of fire. I am here because the community asked me to stay nearby and keep an eye on the area to avoid strange people coming to tamper with our valuables.
“Our fishing gear, accessories as well as processed fish and other property are precious to us; that is why I am keeping a tab from a safe distance,” Okon said.
According to him, this is the third time the incident has occurred but the ongoing one is of greater magnitude and pressure.
The fisherman recalled that in May, the 53-year-old abandoned oil well had leakage and was contained before it blew out again on October 20.
A former Chairman of the Bayelsa Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Alabo Akono, who visited the leak site, described the situation as extremely dangerous for the people and the environment.
“I was there in May this year when there was a blowout. I was there and now this sad occurrence. The livelihood of the people has been abruptly hampered. I have called on the NPDC to do something about these wells and they are over 50 of them, to no avail.” Akono said.
