Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited has disassociated itself from last Thursday’s fresh oil spill, which occurred in the Ibeno Local Government Area of the State.
Over 27 coastal communities were said to have been badly affected in the fresh oil spill which the communities believed was spilled by ExxonMobil.
The village head of Mkpanah, Mobil host community, Denis Essenem, while receiving the Director General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, Chukwuemeka Woke, attributed the spill to ExxonMobil. Woke was on an operational visit to the communities.
Essenem claimed that ExxonMobil is the only major oil company that operates on high sea while others are just marginal fields upland.
Essenem said, “We don’t have any major oil companies than ExxonMobil, the other ones are marginal fields, the upland and if there are spillages the spill will go into the farm lands, but ExxonMobil that operates on high sea with very high current, the breezes will push the oil, the current will drive the oil, they will keep giving us flimsy excuses, lying to us that it’s not their oil.”
But ExxonMobil in a statement by its Regional Communications Manager – Africa, Ogechukwu Udeagha, in Uyo, said on Tuesday that the organisation has not suffered any disruption from any of its facilities.
It added that a preliminary report from the government agency did not identify any Mobil facility as a potential source.
“There has been no release of oil from any of our facilities. We are not the only operator in the area. A preliminary government agency inspection report on the alleged incident did not identify any of our facilities as a potential source. Protection of the environment and our communities remain key priorities in our operations,” the statement said.
