Stakeholders led by the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) have visited Foropa, a fishing settlement along the Atlantic coastline in Bayelsa where a mystery spill was reported on Jan. 3.

It was learnt that officials from NOSDRA Yenagoa field office, Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, Bayelsa State Ministry of Mineral Resources, representatives of Foropa Community and all the Operators operating within the spill impacted areas on Jan 17.

Mystery spills refer to crude oil leaks from unknown sources where there are many oil firms operating near each other.

A Jan. 8 notification letter signed by Pastor Olabai Olozulu, traditional ruler of Foropa, Middleton, indicated that the oil leak at the coastline was noticed on Jan. 3.

Mr Darius Sese, Chairman of Community Development Committee (CDC) in Foropa who spoke in a telephone chat on Thursday said the Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) involved representatives from all the oil firms operating in the area.

He said that the traditional ruler of the area, Olozulu led the JIV team to the spill impacted areas.

He listed the operators to include First E & P, Conoil Exploration, NEPL, Shell and Nigdel United Oil Company.

He explained that the joint team took samples which would be taken to the reference laboratory in Port Harcourt to determine the source.

He lamented that the incident had adversely impacted fishing in the area.
He said that fishermen no longer made catch since the spill occurred as fishes had migrated deeper into the Atlantic waters away from the coastline.