SPDC suffers 51 leaks from its operations in the Niger Delta

The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) says it has so far experienced 51 leaks from its oil production activities in the Niger Delta this year, a data obtained from the oil firm’s spills incident portal on Tuesday has shown.

According to SPDC, 44 of such spill incidents were traced to sabotage by vandals while seven of the reported leaks were caused by operational factors.

In May, eight spills which discharged 253.07 barrels of SPDC’s bonny light crude blend into environment. Of the eight spills recorded, six were caused by sabotage whereas two were from operational factors.

The data showed that operational spills accounted for 6.07 barrels of the 253.07 while sabotage accounted for 247 barrels.

In the previous year, 2020, a total of 159 spills were reported with sabotage being responsible for 140 of the spills while operational factors were responsible for 19 of the incidents.

Although more spills, totaling 190 were reported in 2019, a similar pattern was observed wherein sabotage was responsible for 183 while operational causes were responsible for seven spill incidents.