By Ubong Ukpong, Abuja

The Federal Ministry of Environment has disagreed with the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) over the approval given to an oil company, Aiteo E and P, operating in Nembe, Bayelsa State, to carry out barging activities.

Representatives of the company at a hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Environment said it got approval from NUPRC to barge, which means transporting crude from their facility in Nembe through the Brass River out to the Atlantic Ocean.

The hearing was to probe the environmental impact of transporting crude oil by mega seagoing vessels from Nembe Creek Trunk to offshore crude oil storage in the Atlantic Ocean by Aiteo E and P, as well as the oil spillage in Olugboboro Community in Southern Ijaw Bayelsa State from Nigerian Agip Oil Company (now Oando Oil Ltd) facility.

Chief Operating Officer, Aieto, Ewarezi Useh Aieto said it was a temporary measure which started last year borne out of necessity due to the activities of vandals on the pipelines.

However, the representative of the Minister of Environment, Dr Musa Gashau, said the approval given to the company to operate did not include barging activities.

Chairman of the committee, Pondi Gbabador, queried the inconsistencies in the approvals between government agencies over the same issue.

Useh said they had no other option, otherwise they would shut down production.

On the time agreed for the barging, the Aiteo woman said the Environment Impact Assessment, which gave the approval has a lifespan of five years and it was gotten in November 2020.

She said it was still valid.

But the Ministry of Environment insisted Aieto does not have a valid approval to carry out their barging activities in Nembe.

He said, “The Eia approval did not cover barging. Records available to the Ministry indicate the approval only covered the installation of a 54km crude oil pipeline and a 14 storage platform of the capacity of 3.5 million barrels. It did not cover barging.”

Aiteek woman said for the agreement with the Ministry of Environment, barging was not part of the agreement, but the NUPRC which is also a regulator they went through all the whole hog of getting all the requirements for barging crude.

Responding to enquiries, the Manager Health Safety and Environment, Aiteo, Augustina Amaka Bisong, said their activities do not damage the environment as all considerations have been made to address such.

She said there was no spillage in the entire process.

He said they were supposed to be a 120, 000 barrels producing facility but because of the theft and even with the barging, they are struggling to do between 30, 000 and 40, 000 right now.

The Director General of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Engr Chukwuemeka, said there has been no incident of oil spillage since the operation commenced.

However the committee expressed reservations about the claim that their activities did not have adverse effects on the environment.

It resolved to embark on an oversight to have first-hand information about the true state of things for further necessary legislative actions.

Also, the Deputy Manager Environment Oando, Akuduro Philip, called for legislative support to address the issue of oil theft and vandalism which he said has far reaching consequences.

He said they operate in four states including Bayelsa and statistics show that about 90 percent of all their spill events are caused by third party interferences on their facilities.

He further said particularly in Bayelsa State 80 percent of spillage is within Southern Ijaw, where Olugboboro Community is.