The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency acknowledged another suspected attack on the Nigerian Agip Oil Company’s Ogboinbiri/OB-OB gas pipeline in Bayelsa State on Thursday.
The breach of the facility happened on Wednesday, according to NOSDRA Director-General Idris Musa, and resulted in a fire near the Okaka and Azikoro towns in the state’s Yenagoa Local Government Area.
The incident came just one week after the gas pipeline was vandalized on March 29, disrupting the oil company’s gas export feed to the Nigeria Liquefied Gas collecting and processing facility.
The agency said on Thursday, a day after the event, that its research uncovered a growing number of sabotage-induced oil and gas leaks at oilfields in Bayelsa.
Musa claimed that three sabotage-related incidents had occurred on oil and gas facilities in the state within one week and advised operators to reinforce surveillance.
He explained that a few days after the ruptured point on the gas pipeline was clamped, vandals blew up the facility and it went up in flames.
The NOSDRA boss said, “There was a gas leak last week from a vandalised OB-OB/Ogboinbiri gas pipeline at Okaka in Bayelsa State.
“The pipeline was repaired but unfortunately re-vandalised again, resulting in a fire. The NAOC is working actively to depressurise the pipeline in order to begin repairs of the pipeline.”
Officials of the oil company declined comments on the incident and negligence of the regulator’s admonition to intensify surveillance on the facility when contacted.