Raid On Illegal Bunkering Sites Causes Fire Outbreak At NNPCL Facility In Rivers

A fire outbreak has occurred at a wellhead of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 15, a facility operated by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), also known as Bukuma/Buguma flow station, located in the Buguma waterways of Asari-Toru local government area of Rivers State.

It was gathered that the raging inferno, which has lasted for four days as of the time of filing this report on Wednesday, was a result of shelling of the area by security agents to ward off oil thieves from the faulty wellhead.

Journalists and the natives could not access the scene of fire outbreak as gunboats loaded with security personnel were stationed close to the scene of the oil spill where the fire broke out.

President of Kalabari Youths Federation (KYF) and leader of the team that led journalists to the scene, Livingstone Membere, explained that repeated raid by the security agents was responsible for the oil spill that now resulted in the fire outbreak.

Some natives of Buguma, who spoke with the journalists, called on the government and relevant agencies to urgently put off the fire.

A youth leader, Taribo Horsefall, lamented the impact of the fire on the livelihoods of the community.

As at the time of filing this report, the NNPCL, NOSDRA and security agencies were yet to issue any statement concerning the inferno, neither was there any move to put out the raging fire.