Aiteo Shuts Down Nembe Field After Spill, Risks Nigeria’s Oil Output

Nigeria’s crude oil production faces disruption after Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company, operator of the Nembe oil field in Bayelsa State, halted operations due to an oil spill. 

The company revealed in a release that the leak was discovered on June 17 while conducting routine operations in the Nembe area of Bayelsa State. 

This region, situated in Nigeria’s Delta, is notorious for its severe pollution, caused by decades of oil spills that have devastated local farming and fishing industries.

The Nembe Creek facility stands as the largest among the 11 fields managed by Aiteo under its oil mining lease. This facility not only produces a considerable amount of oil but also generates substantial volumes of natural gas, which are delivered to the Nigeria LNG plant located at Bonny Island.

According to the company, the Oil Spill and Emergency Response Team was immediately activated, and all production from Oil Mining Licence (OML) 29 was shut down as a precautionary measure to mitigate the impact of the incident. 

Victor Okoronkwo, the MD of Aiteo,  said, “While we regret the production losses and the potential environmental impact, our current priority is to expedite an efficient spill management process in line with regulatory standards and collaborate with all stakeholders to restore production and mitigate associated risks.” 

As of the time of filing this report, the cause of the leak remains unknown and Aiteo decided to shut down operations as a precaution to control the spill.

According to the company, its joint venture partners and the appropriate regulators, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), have been informed about the spill.

In the previous year, NNPC and Aiteo launched a new grade of crude oil called Nembe through their joint venture, aiming to boost oil production in Africa’s leading oil-producing nation.

The Nembe crude oil stream, according to the company, will be managed and marketed by a partnership between the state-owned NNPC and Aiteo Eastern E&P Co. Ltd. This initiative represents the first crude oil marketing project managed exclusively by Nigerian entities.

Nembe’s production was added to the Bonny Light stream over three years ago, but subsequent sabotage incidents on the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) have negatively affected the output.