Vandalism activities at Azikoro community in Bayelsa have been blamed for the drop in the Nigeria’s gas Export by 5 million Standard Cubic Meters per day (MMSCM/d).
The drop was sequel an explosion of the 24 Ogboinbiri and OB-OB gas pipeline, the gas export feed to the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG).
Mr Idris Musa, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), confirmed the pipeline blast.
The director general said that the incident on the gas line which evacuates an average of 5 MMSCM/d was reported to the Agency in the early hour of Tuesday,
Musa said following the notification, a team of officials comprising the Secretary of Azikoro community, the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Mineral Resources and representatives of NOSDRA visited the incident site early Wednesday.
He said that the explosion was also reported to the Agency by the Azikoro community at 11.38 a. m. and subsequently, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), the owners of the facility was promptly notified of the incident.
“Due to high pressure, NAOC was directed by NOSDRA to depressurise the facility preparatory for a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) which will follow immediately to ascertain the cause and extent of the incident.
“NAOC is already at the incident site, with the Agency among other stakeholders working to contain the explosion and secure the incident site preparatory to JIV and other remedial measures,” Musa said.
He assured that NOSDRA would conduct the investigations in a transparent manner and pledged that its findings would be made public in due course.
Meanwhile, officials of NAOC declined comments when contacted for a reaction.
Some of the residents near the incident site said they heard sound of explosions on Tuesday morning in the area.
They also alleged that some small batteries and wires suspected to be used by the vandals to detonate improvised explosive device were found in the area
