Residents warn that imminent flooding could spread crude oil across farms and rivers as questions mount over delayed response and missing spill records.
Five weeks after an oil well blowout in Delta State’s Uzere Kingdom, the operator, Heritage Energy Operational Services Limited, is yet to fully contain the incident, raising concerns over the growing environmental and livelihood impacts on the oil-producing community.
A field assessment by the environmental advocacy group Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), released on Wednesday, alleged that the damaged wellhead continued to discharge crude oil, gas and other petroleum substances into the environment more than a month after the incident.
The organisation said it was denied access to the affected site by security personnel during a visit on 25 July and relied on photographs, videos and testimonies from community leaders and residents.
However, the Warri Zonal Head of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) confirmed the spill and told PREMIUM TIMES that containment efforts were ongoing and that the agency planned another inspection of the site.
Uzere Kingdom hosts the Uzere East and Uzere West oil fields, with dozens of producing wells. Farming and fishing remain the dominant occupations for residents despite decades of oil exploration in the area.
According to HOMEF, community leaders said the blowout resulted from equipment failure caused by excessive pressure, based on explanations allegedly provided by company engineers shortly after the incident.
Residents told the organisation that repeated efforts to contain the discharge had failed and that the damaged wellhead, commonly known as the “Christmas Tree,” had reportedly collapsed.
They warned that the affected site lies close to farmlands, fish ponds and a gas flare stack, increasing fears that floodwaters expected during the rainy season could spread pollution across rivers, wetlands and agricultural land.
Sylvanus Evroro, chairman of the Uzere Oil and Gas Committee, said the community was becoming increasingly anxious as August flooding approached.
“About 90 per cent of our people are farmers and fishers. If this blowout is not contained immediately, our farms, fish ponds, lakes and swamps will be seriously affected, with grave consequences for livelihoods and food production,” he said.
Mr Evroro also called on authorities to immediately contain the blowout, investigate its cause, clean up the environment and compensate affected residents.
HOMEF criticised what it described as the slow response by both the operator and regulatory agencies.
The organisation called on Heritage Energy to immediately stop the discharge using internationally accepted emergency measures, begin environmental clean-up and remediation, replace ageing infrastructure where necessary and grant unrestricted access to regulators and independent observers.
It also asked NOSDRA to publicly release the findings of the Joint Investigation Visit (JIV), enforce compliance and supervise comprehensive remediation of the impacted environment.
The group further asked the Delta State Ministry of Environment and other relevant agencies to conduct independent environmental, ecological, and public health assessments to determine the extent of contamination.
Checks by PREMIUM TIMES on NOSDRA’s Oil Spill Monitor did not show any record of the Uzere blowout as of Wednesday, despite the incident occurring more than five weeks ago.
The only Heritage Energy-related incident currently listed on the monitor for the last three months is spill reference HEOSL/2026/333, reported by the Warri Zonal Office on 23 May.
The report estimated the spill volume at 0.013 barrels of crude oil. It attributed the incident to sabotage at Well 1 Oroni Elbow Riser in Okpolo Enhwe, also in the Isoko South Local Government Area. It stated that the spill affected soil within the company’s right-of-way.
When contacted on Wednesday by PREMIUM TIMES, Kenneth Ogeibiri, zonal head of NOSDRA’s Warri Office, said containment activities were ongoing.
“Containment methods are currently on. We have visited them for the second time. There are people the company is expecting. Some have come, while some have not yet arrived. But hopefully tomorrow, the agency will move there, both from the Abuja and Warri offices, for us to truly ascertain the true situation of things at the site,” he said.
Asked why containment had taken several weeks since the 26 June blowout, Mr Ogeibiri said the Joint Investigation Visit had already been conducted.
“The JIV is done already. Based on the JIV’s recommendations, I think they are following up. Eventually, what they arrive at will be communicated to everyone. From there, whatever anyone says or does, that also will be considered,” he said.
When asked why the JIV report had neither been published nor uploaded to the agency’s Oil Spill Monitor, Mr Ogeibiri described it as “an official matter.”
After PREMIUM TIMES pointed out that JIV reports are public records under the NOSDRA Act and are routinely published on the agency’s Oil Spill Monitor, the official said he would make further enquiries.
PREMIUM TIMES made several attempts to obtain Heritage Energy’s response. The newspaper called Edward, the official contact listed on the company’s website, but the calls went unanswered.
A detailed media enquiry was subsequently sent to the company seeking explanations on the status of the containment operation, the cause of the prolonged delay in securing the well, the findings of the JIV, remediation and compensation plans for affected communities.
The company had not responded as of the time this report was filed.
