Lagos — Officials of Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) at the Qua Iboe Oil Export Terminal in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom, have visited areas affected by Monday's oil spill.

Sources in the oil firm's host community told NAN that the officials visited the Atlantic coastline and Ibeno beach on Monday evening to access the impact of the reported oil spill.

Though Mobil is yet to comment on the development, the community on noticing oil deposits raised alarm and reported the incident to the oil company.

National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Monday confirmed the oil spill and said it had commenced an investigation into the incident.

Communities near the oil facility operated by the oil company have recorded four oil spills in the past six months.

The spills occurred on Dec. 4, 2009, March 24, May 1, and June 21.

The oil firm had in a statement signed by its External Affairs Director Mrs Gloria Essien-Dannar on May 12, said that it could not meet its contractual obligations to crude buyers.

It attributed the situation to a pipeline damage at the Qua Iboe Oil Fields offshore Akwa Ibom shoreline.

MPN, an affiliate of US oil firm ExxonMobil, said that the force majeure it declared on its Qua Iboe crude streams on May 12 was yet to be lifted.

NAN sources at the Qua Iboe oil fields, said that about 12 million dollars oil export revenue may be threatened due to a partial shut in of oil production in the oil fields.

The shut in is the enable the oil company to effect repairs on a damaged crude pipeline.

The pipeline damage, NAN learnt, caused a decline in crude export by the company from the more than 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to about 250,000 bpd.

The Qua Iboe crude export terminal is operated by the oil firm in joint venture with NNPC.

Force Majeure frees an oil company from legal liabilities for not meeting its contractual obligations due to circumstances outside its control

Meanwhile, Fishermen who operate near the Qua Iboe oil fields in Ibeno, Akwa Ibom, have appealed to the government to take urgent measures to curtail frequent oil spills in the area.

They said the development had threatened their livelihood.

Reacting to Monday's oil spill discovered by National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) at Ibeno shoreline, the fishermen decried the high rate of oil spills in the area

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Eket that they were still counting their losses as a result of the May 1 oil spill from Mobil facilities when another one occurred on Monday.

Mobil, an affiliate of the U.S. oil firm, ExxonMobil, in a statement on May 4 by Mrs Gloria Essien-Danner, the firm's Executive Director, confirmed that a pipeline leak from one of its offshore platforms discharged an undisclosed volume of crude into the Atlantic.

Rev. Samuel Ayadi, Chairman of the state chapter of Artisan Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN), told NAN that they could no longer cope with the spills.

He said: "We are still computing our claims for the last spill that occurred on May 1. We no longer make reasonable catch, and after fueling our outboard engines, we toil day and night, yet the catch does not cover the fuel costs.

"It is hope that keeps us going; we have been running at a loss and have been praying that God will turn things around.

"We are sick and tired of the oil contamination of the marine environment, which has made fishing a nightmare and less lucrative. We now find it difficult to take care of our families, because we cannot make ends meet.

"Rather than co-exist with us, Mobil wants to force us out of the sea, and we have no other place to go. They have refused to compensate us for the losses we incur, due to the spills."

Ayadi said that fishermen operating along the Atlantic shoreline recorded four oil spills within the past six months on Dec. 4, 2009 as well as March 24, May 1, and June 21, 2010.

The May 1 spill sparked off a protest by Mobil's host communities, which compelled the state government to convene a mediatory meeting to resolve the conflict between the oil firm and its neighbouring communities.

Ayadi said that fishermen had lost some substantial revenue as a result of their withdrawal from fishing and the contamination of their fishing nets and other accessories.

He said that fishermen usually withdrew from the sea whenever a spill occurred to avoid catching oil contaminated fish, which was toxic and unfit for human consumption.

Ayadi also appealed to NOSDRA to restrain Mobil from using chemical dispersants to contain oil spills, noting that the poisonous chemical kills fish fingerlings.

"The use of 'Teepol dispersant' is unsafe for marine life. The chemical is toxic and wipes out generations of fish. Any fish that survives it is tasteless," he added.

NAN