Angry youths shut down ConOil facility in Bayelsa

By Adeleye Kunle

The invasion and shutting down of crude oil facilities operated by ConOil Producing Limited by angry youths over alleged non-implementation of Memorandum of Understanding with host communities has heightened tensions in Koluama community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

It was learned yesterday that the Ango 2 field, which has been operated by Conoil since 2013, has a crude oil production capacity of more than 30,000 barrels per day.

The aggrieved indigenes, including women, youths, and elders, caught security personnel stationed on the facilities off guard and invaded the facility with placards reading ‘No MoU, No Crude Oil Exploration,’ ‘ConOil pack and go, we are tired of suffering,’ and ‘Koluama people are suffering,’ demanding that operations at the facility be halted.

The decision of the aggrieved community indigenes was also supported by members of the Koluama Oil and Gas Committee, who claimed that Conoil had failed to implement the Memorandum of Understanding, which outlined the oil company’s social obligations to its host communities.

Chief Jonathan Amabebe, Chairman of the Koluama Clan Oil and Gas Committee, who spoke to Tracknews from the breached oil facilities, said some of the community’s demands include cleaning up oil spill sites in various communities and providing medical outreach to communities affected by the oil spill.

Others include the issuance of an employment letter to one of the community’s qualified indigenes who was successful in Conoil’s previous employment exercise in 2015, as well as the award of contracts across the five host communities in Koluama Clan, namely, Tamazo, Koluama 1, Koluama 2, Olobia, and Kalaweiama, as outlined in the MoU.

Speaking on the development, Prince Tare Ekubo, Technical Assistant to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Oil and Gas, said that despite several warnings from the community, government intervention, meetings, and letters sent to Conoil to ensure that the relationship between both parties does not degenerate, the oil company has refused to implement the decisions that prompted the community to take such action.

He did, however, state that the Bayelsa State Government will work with both parties to resolve the outstanding issues once and for all.

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