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Shell Petroleum Development Company(SPDC) has expressed commitment to the reduction in the number of operational spills in the country.
The multinational oil company also said it was focused on implementing its ongoing work programme to appraise, maintain and replace key sections of pipelines and flow lines.
The oil company,in its latest briefing note,explained that it had completed more than 1,330 kilometres of new pipelines over the last 10 years, stressing that “this was organised through a pipeline and flow line integrity management system that pro-actively addresses pipelines integrity.”
“It puts barriers in place where necessary and recommends when and where pipeline sections should be replaced to prevent failures. In 2018, this integrity management system was enhanced to manage threats arising from frequent pipeline sabotage or vandalism,” SPDC added.
It begged host communities in the Niger Delta for the massive oil spills it had caused in their environments as a result of equipment failures from its operations in the region.
It claimed that some of the operational failures happened accidentally, adding that more effort was required to prevent such incidents.
It said:”There were 11 operational spills over 100 kilograms in 2020 compared with over 60 in 2011 and the SPDC JV has reduced the average volume of spilled oil in each incident by nearly 80 per cent in the last decade. In 2020, the SPDC JV had four more operational spills than 2019, but the spill volumes were lower year-on-year.
“Over the past 10 years, the total number and volume of oil spills from operations in the Niger Delta have been significantly reduced. Operational spills have been significantly fewer since 2016 and the SPDC believes it is possible to have zero spills, but there are still occasions when accidental spills occur.The SPDC apologises for these spills and recognises there is still work to do to end operational spills completely. SPDC believes this is possible if it can continue to improve its performance in the areas where it has control.”
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