Eroton Exploration and Production Company Limited has blamed a recent oil spill incident that occurred on wellhead of the company’s Oil mining acreage on third-party interference.
A statement by the Head of External Affairs and Corporate Communications, Eroton Exploration and Production company limited, Mercy Max-Ebibai said it was the second time the oil spill incident in Cawthorne Channel Well head happened in 15 months.
The statement noted the spillage (CAWC047L wild oil spill) which is an exact replica of the previous one, happened in the morning hours of Saturday, July 10, 2022.
Max-Ebibai said: CAWC047L/S is a dual string well, the Long String arm was shut-in in April 2020 due to flowline vandalization and in July 2020, the Short String arm was also shut-in for same reasons.”A distant look at the well shows the absence of some wellhead valves on the body of the XMAS TREE.
“The spill was observed at about 07 45hrs coming from the wing valve arm of the CAWC047L, which appears to have been vandalized with the valves, control panels, bean-box, actuators all carted away.
“The well was observed to be releasing uncontrolled flow of hydrocarbon to the environment from the long string due to the confirmed compromised and vandalized XMAS Tree containment valves of the wellhead.”
She further confirmed that despite the high-pressure emission of crude, the Eroton Emergency Response Team has been working around the clock to abate the situation.
She added: “A quick intervention initiated to shut-in the well through the master valve was abortive because the master valve appeared to have been compromised in a stuck position.
“The control line of the emergency downhole safety valve was also reported to be compromised, consequently affecting the activation, and functioning of the emergency downhole safety system.
“Efforts are in progress to rectify all the faulty valves on the Christmas tree which were found stuck in closed position. A first response has also been activated for containment and recovery.”
She said due to the administrative challenges occasioned by the public holidays, statutory notification to regulators can only be accomplished by Wednesday July 13, 2022. An electronic incident notification has however been sent to the relevant regulators in the interim.
“Wild well control experts are expected to visit the site tomorrow to have an assessment of the current situation and design a solution to keep the well under control.”