By Tife Owolabi
YENAGOA (Reuters) -Nigeria’s Renaissance Africa Energy Co. Ltd has confirmed an illegal connection on its Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline at Oshika community in Nigeria’s coastal Rivers state caused a spill, the independent oil producer said on Monday.
The company was immediately isolating the pipeline and stopping production to minimize potential environmental impact, a spokesperson said in a statement.
It has informed government regulators and is coordinating a mandatory joint investigation. This probe, involving government and local community representatives, will determine the cause and impact of the incident, the company said.
Monday’s oil spill marks the second incident this month on the Okordia-Rumuekpe pipeline and the third across Renaissance’s operations.
Last Friday, the company, which now owns former Shell Nigeria onshore assets, halted production on a line feeding the Trans Niger oil pipeline, a crucial artery transporting crude from onshore fields to the Bonny export terminal, following an operational incident.
(Reporting by Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa; writing by Elisha Bala-GbogboEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
