*Firm Confirms Clamping Done, Spill Clean-up Underway
Nigerian oil firm Renaissance Energy has halted production into the country’s Trans Niger Pipeline (TNP), a major oil artery transporting crude from onshore oilfields to the Bonny export terminal, following an operational incident, the firm said today, May 16.
An environmental rights group said yesterday (Thursday) that the pipeline burst on May 6 and spilled oil into the local B-Dere community in Ogoniland, the second such incident affecting the pipeline in two months.
Nigerian oil consortium Renaissance Group, which now owns Shell’s former onshore subsidiary that operates the pipeline, “immediately isolated the pipeline and halted production into the line”, Michael Adande, spokesperson for Renaissance said.
“With co-operation from the B-Dere community, our experts accessed the site, clamped the pipeline and recovered spilled oil, with clean-up preparations now underway,” Adande said.
Renaissance said a team of investigators had confirmed that the incident was an operational one.
The TNP, with a capacity of around 450,000 barrels per day, is one of two conduits that export Bonny Light crude from Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer.
