The Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) has said it no longer operates any facility at Odimodi community in Burutu local government area of Delta State where a prolonged gas leakage was reported recently by an environmental rights group, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN).
The ERA/FoEN, had in a statement raised the alarm about palpable tension enveloping Odidi community over the discovery of the gas leakage from a facility credited to Agip Oil Company in the area.
The leakage, the rights group claimed, was discovered about three months ago and the attention of Agip Oil Company and National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) were drawn to it but nothing was done to tackle the spill.
ERA/FoEN, in the statement signed by its Communication Officer, Elvirah Jordan, said it received a Save-Our-Souls (SOS) from the community on July 5th this year, lamenting the gas leakage from Bemobebe-aka Gas Facility belonging to Agip, which had been non operational for some time.
But the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), in a statement issued yesterday, said it had since relinquished the Odidi field and returned the asset to the marginal field’s basket to the federal government since 2012.
In the statement signed by Folu Olapade, the company declared “Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) wishes to clarify that the company had relinquished Odimodi field and returned the asset to the marginal field’s basket of the Federal Government of Nigeria since 2012.
“This fact was documented by the former Department of Petroleum Resources (now NUPRC) through a letter confirming the transfer and inclusion of the asset in its Marginal Field’s regime.
“NAOC unequivocally states that it no longer owns any facility nor operates any asset in the referenced community or area and therefore dissociates the company from any issues related to the operation of the asset or any other matter associated with to,” it added.
