By Michael Eboh

The host community of the Otakikpo marginal field in Oil Mining Lease, OML, 11 in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Ikuru, weekend advised operator of the field, Green Energy International Limited, to be careful in its dealings with the community to avoid making the mistakes Shell made in Ogoni land.

Spokesperson for the Ikuru community, Mr. Accra James, in a statement in Abuja, said the whole community would be glad to see the company start operation, but urged the company not to let the people of the community regret giving their words of approval to the company to work in their town.

He, however, stated that the community has pledged to work with the operators of the oil field, noting that it needed
to give the assurances following the successful completion of the company’s maximum efficiency rate test, which would enable the company commence the continuous production and evacuation of crude oil.

Green Energy, had a few days ago, disclosed that it is about to commence continuous full production and evacuation from the Otakikpo Marginal field, having successfully completed its pipeline from the field to six kilometres offshore in preparation for crude evacuation through a shuttle tanker.

It also stated that it had finalized its Crude Handling Agreement (CHA) with Amni International Petroleum Development company and had recently secured an Evacuation Permit from the regulatory body to enable it move its crude to Ima terminal operated by Amin.”

However, James, who stated that the drilling and cocking of the oil field was carried out first by shell in the 1950s, appealed to the operator not to neglect it in the provision of essential amenities.

He said, “We welcome Green Energy International Limited, which has just finished testing on the production wells of the Otakikpo field as supervised by the Department of Petroleum Resources, to our community.

“We are grateful that the marginal field received a Technical Allowable Rate of 8,350 barrels per day from the four strings in two wells, Otakikpo 2 and Otakikpo 3, for the first quarter of this year.

“We are equally aware that the company was further given the Commercial Allowable Rate of 5,000 barrels per day for February this year by the Crude Oil Marketing Department of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

“No doubt, the successful take-off of the company would be beneficial to the Nigerian economy which has been bedeviled with hostilities arising from uncooperative communities due to various grievances by them.

“We assure the operators of this oil field of our cooperation at all time. We love our country because we know that its steady progress would be of immense beneficial to us as well.

“However, we want to appeal to the operators to always remember that the host community should not b neglected. The company should not forget its social responsibilities to us.

“Lack of Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, and participation by communities were some of the reasons that made Shell to be driven away from Ogoni land. We hope that this company would not make the same mistake.”

In its announcement of the planned commencement of full production and evacuation, Green Energy had disclosed that as part of its commitment to uplift the socio economic status of the host communities, the company was embarking on the immediate installation of six megawatts electricity plant while ensuring that the Trust Fund set up to finance development projects and managed by the community is adequately funded.