BREAKING: Protesters Shut Down Operations At Shell’s EA Oil Field

FPSO Platform

The EA Oil and Gas Field operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company Of Nigeria Limited, SPDC, located in Bayelsa State of Nigeria has been reportedly shut down, BigPen Online has learnt.

The field which is one of the biggest Nigeria offshore Floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSO, in swallow waters was shut down at the early hours of Wednesday by protesting “casual workers” in the platform.

In June 2014, Shell declared a force majeure on the EA field to effect repair of the soft yoke mooring platform, SYMP, a development which caused Nigeria to have reportedly lose $4.24 million (about N678.46 million) daily, resulting from the shut in of about 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Sources said that workers in the Floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSO, vessel, Sea Eagle, with the mooring platform were jostled at the wee hours of the day when the protesters shut down the facility.

Specifically, our source disclosed the Scar Folders in the Floating Production Storage and Offloading, FPSO, in Southern Ijaw and Ekeremor Local Council Area of Bayelsa State, protesting their casualization of work schedules shut down the facility to press home their grievances.

Local communities which hosted the Shell facility located South West of oil rich city of Warri in water depths of around 25 meters, had been protesting underdevelopment, casualization of communities youths working in the platform among others.

The workers who were reportedly trained at the Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State comprises of the 12 Community Liaison Officers CLOs, and the Scar Folders employed in the platform have been protesting their casual status since 1991.

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In an earlier statement obtained by BigPen Online, signed on behalf of EA Field Youths, and Opinion Leaders Forum representatives by Messer Stephen Aye, Commander Abiodun, Ayamoro Tesco and Joseph Monday, issued on Tuesday, they allegedly accused Shell of double standard and insensitivity to their plight.

They alleged that Shell had blatantly refused to staff the workers despite the training they had undergone and appeal from stakeholders.

“Shell has refused to staff this people not because the communities do not have qualified youths but because, all Shell and the international collaborators want is to continue to enslave our people, impoverished us and render the fishing areas of the host communities barren.

“This graduates from the 12 EA Field host communities have been working with Shell through the services providing Companies (contractors) for upward of sixteen years and are relegated permanently to the status of “casual” employees.

“The above mentioned groups of workers are living in fear day in and day out as they do not have job security.

“Their condition of service could best be described as modern day slavery.

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“We the 12 EA Oil Field Host Communities can no longer continue to watch from afar while the benefits such as permanent Shell staff positions, etc. are enjoyed by people who are not from the EA Field Host Communities”.

“We therefore call on ILO, the UN, The Hague, President Donald Trump, etc. to wade into the matter as a way of correcting the anomalies”, they added.

Meanwhile, when contacted Shell’s Joseph Obari, Head Media SPDC West said he wasn’t aware of the development but promised to respond when he gets information from field operators in the area. As at time of publishing this report around 12: noon Nigeria time, he hasn’t responded.

Written by Joe Ogbodu

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