Bayelsa community disrupts SPDC’s oil exploration

Aggrieved people of Opukushi in the Ekeremor Local  Government Area of Bayelsa State have disrupted oil exploration activities at an oilfield operated by the Shell Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) in the area.

The people are protesting against alleged exclusion from contracts in the ongoing drilling-for-oil activities around the host communities’ environment.

The Chairman of Opukushi Community Development Committee, Simon Preye, said the host communities staged the demonstration to register their grievances against the SPDC.

He vowed that they would continue with the protest until their plight was addressed.

Preye claimed that rather than engage the people in the ongoing activities at the field in compliance with the Community Content Guidelines, the oil company and its contractors neglected their social obligations to the communities.

The Media Relations Manager at the SPDC, Bamidele Odugbesan, Media confirmed the halting of oil exploration activities in the area.

Odugbesan said that personnel of its contractors were safe and unharmed in the incident, describing it as an invasion.

He said work in the oil rig at the oilfield had been shut down and the incident was reported to the appropriate government agencies.

Odugbesan said, “A large number of men and women invaded a contractor-owned and operated rig working for The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Joint Venture in Opukushi in Ekeremor Local Government area of Bayelsa State in the early hours of Monday 10 January 2022.

“The invaders forcibly shut down the facility and occupied the safe muster area. Nobody was hurt in the process and the incident was promptly reported to government authorities.”