The oil rich Ibeno community in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria, has given Mobil a two-week ultimatum to pay $500 million compensation for damages caused by oil spills between February 2008 and December 2009
Mobil, an affiliate of the United States oil firm ExxonMobil, reported that a leak on a pipeline on December 4 caused the discharge of an unknown volume of crude oil into the Atlantic Ocean.
Subsequently, deposits of crude oil suspected to be from the Qua Iboe Oil Fields were noticed along the Atlantic shoreline in Ibeno, near Eket last week.
In a letter to the oil firm, dated December 17, a copy of which was made available to journalists on Tuesday in Eket, the Ibeno Clan Council, decried frequent oil spills at the Qua Iboe Oil Field and the resultant pollution of the environment.
The letter was signed by the secretary to the council, Chief Herkings Inyang and the Speaker of the Ibeno Council of Chiefs, Dr Effiong Archiang.
It stated : “while we were condoling ourselves and trying to recover from the losses of the February 2008 oil spill, we are again confronted with yet another oil spill of great magnitude which occurred in the early days of December.’’
“It is obvious that the incessant occurrence of oil spills on our waters is a dangerous threat to our major source of livelihood, it also questions the sincerity of MPN (Mobil) in safeguarding our environment from avoidable pollution in the course of their operations.’’
The community also complained that it had suffered several times from pipeline failures and challenged the integrity of the pipeline network at the Qua Iboe Oil fields.
The Ibeno Clan Council called for an overhaul of crude oil pipelines and replacement of those pipelines that had out-lived their lifespan.
Source African Press Agency
