Suspicion surrounds fresh explosion in Ogoni oil well

…Sabotage, state of emergency renewal, resistance to oil resumption highly fingered

New oil spill is washing through Ogoni areas after confirmation of an explosion at a wellhead Thursday night breaking August 6, 2025.

The incident occurred at Kpean community, Ken-Khana District in the Khana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The incident has been traced to suspected explosion at Wellhead 14 of OML-11 which was abandoned by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), now sold to Renaissance.

Early alarm was raised Friday were raised by an activist group, Youths and Environmental Advocacy Centre (YEAC-Nigeria), which said through its executive director, Fyneface Dumnamene Fynface, that it confirmed the surging spill through its One Million Youth Volunteers Network and Crude Oil Spill Alert System (COSAS). The report made available to BusinessDay in Port Harcourt said the spill came amid ongoing environment clean-up of previous crude oil spills.

Early signals did not indicate cause because the wellhead was sealed in 2011, only to spurge oil now. Later by Saturday, sources in the area confirmed to YEAC sources that it is far from being natural causes, suspecting sabotage.

Fresh suspicion is linking the explosion close to the area where oil explosion led majorly to declaration of state of emergency on March 18, 2025. This has raised fresh fears that now that the emergency rule is just nine days to end, such explosions could be deliberately targeted at extending the emergency rule, especially as local council elections are not yet conducted and the rebuilding of the Rivers State House of Assembly is yet to be concluded.

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Observers see these three unrelated matters as appearing related to whether or not the emergency rule will be lifted.

Earlier suspicions were that the spill resulted from equipment failure on a wellhead. Earlier reports mentioned wellheads 2 and 4 but it was eventually traced to 14. These wells are among those abandoned since 1993 by SPDC following their departure from Ogoni area after crisis with the host communities highlighted by the hanging of nine Ogoni leaders and youths led by Ken Saro Wiwa as a result of earlier mob action that led to the death of four Ogoni chiefs and leaders.

Sources told YEAC-Nigeria’s volunteers in the area that they were hearing pressure sounds from the wellhead for several days before the spillage which suggested that the crude oil was struggling to emerge from the sealed Christmas Tree (Oil Well Head).

These later seemed made up when explosion emerged as the better explanation.

Fears are rife the new spill complicates ongoing clean-up efforts by the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), especially with ongoing federal government controversial oil production resumption discussions in the Ogoni.

By mid of August 8, fresh updates, explosion was finally pointed at and as the site is now said to be on fire.

A paramount ruler in one of the communities in the oil field informed YEAC-Nigeria leadership, shifting blame to explosion. This seems to call for quick action by NOSDRA’s investigative visit.

Heavy suspicion seems to ignite calls by community leaders to plead with youths to desist from acts that could annoy the FG which they believe have done so much to the Ogoni people in recent time which they say has been making efforts to improve Ogoni through various projects.

YEAC has thus called on relevant authorities to mobilize fire services to extinguish the fire; deploy the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to secure the site; that the NNPCL should coordinate efforts to address the issue; and that NOSDRA should immediately conduct a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) with stakeholders.

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Latest updates indicated that fire is still allegedly burning on the oil spill site, on the Christmas tree (oil wellhead) in the Kpean community up till Friday, 7.42pm of August 8, 2025.

NNPCL team from NEPL actually touched down in the community but were allegedly unable to access the spillage site due to the deplorable state of the access road amid heavy rains. It was gathered that NNPCL/NEPL met with the community people including chiefs, youths, and women in Kpean. It was not clear if the community have accepted financial offers so far made to them.

This situation is said to have forced the people to recall that sometime in 2007, there was a similar explosion and fire incident on a wellhead in Busuu community in the Yorla Oil Field around Kpean in the area located before Teera-Ue Community.

Our source said: “The inferno lasted for weeks into months and all members of the small community evacuated until date and nobody is living in that community anymore until now. It took NNPCL then called NDPC a long time to put out the fire. There was no adequate compensation paid to the people or their resettlement.”

This incident was said to have been investigated and the report was put out online in 2014 titled ‘Banished for Oil: The untold story of environmental exiles of Ogoniland’.

YEAC-Nigeria fears that the fire incident on Oil Well 14 which has now lasted for over 24 hours, if not properly managed, may last longer! “The 2007 fire incident took NPDC/Shell to hire foreign expert firefighters to put out the inferno as we were told.”

YEAC-Nigeria declared: “We urge youths in the Ogoni area to avoid actions that could lead to further instability in the area especially with the ongoing clean-up project, recent visit of representatives of the office of the National Security Adviser, constitution of the board of the Federal University of Environmental Technology and commissioning of water projects by the minister of environment.

The advocacy centre also warned youths in the Ogoni area where the first explosion on a pipeline occurred and contributed to the suspension of Gov Fubara and declaration of a state of emergency to desist from acts that may compel President Bola Tinubu to extend the emergency rule and keep the suspended governor perpetually out of office.”

Source: Businessday.ng | Continue to Full Story…