Nigerian sailor survives two days in sunken oil service vessel.

A Nigerian sailor has survived for two days in a tugboat that sank in 30 m of water roughly 32 km off the coast of Delta State, on 26 May 2013. The West African Ventures owned Jascon-4 was stabilizing an oil tanker loading crude at a Chevron-owned oil platform,  when it was hit by a storm swell, causing it to overturn and sink rapidly. Harrison Okene, who worked as a cook on the vessel, managed to get into an air pocket as the vessel sank, where he remained for the next 60 hours.

Harrison Okene, survived 60 hours in an air pocket at a depth of 30 m. Joe Brock/Reuters.

Mr Okene was eventually rescued by South African divers from  DCN Global Diving, who had been called in by Chevron and West African Ventures to search the vessel for bodies; nobody had expected anyone to survive this depth for this long. In order to rescue Mr Okene, who was suffering from dehydration and salt burns, it was necessary to move him to a diving bell then raise him to the surface, where he was transfered to a decompression chamber for a further 60 hours. Had this not been done he would have almost inevitably have suffered decompression sickness (the bends), which occurs when a body undergoes a rapid drop in pressure causing bubbles of inert gas (typically nitrogen) to form within tissue, and can cause paralysis, seizures and cardiac failure.

The bodies of 10 other crewmen were recovered from the wreck, one other never being found. The recovery attempt was eventually called off due to poor weather.

See also Nigeria threatens Shell with US$11.5 billion in fines and compensation payments over the Bonga Oil Spill, North Sea oil rig partially evacuated following leak, Oil barge explosion in Port of Lagos, Two feared dead after explosion on oil rig in Gulf of Mexico and Explosion aboard oil vessel in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

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Oil spill in the Ecuadorean Amazon.

Around 10 000 barrels (slightly under 1.2 million liters) of crude oil leaked into the Coca River in eastern Ecuador following the rupture of the 30 year old Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline, operated by the state owned Petroecuador oil company. The river is a tributary of the Napa River, which in turn supplies water to the Amazon. It is also the main supply of fresh water to the town of Francisco de Orellana, which has a population of 60 000 and lies on the junction of the Coca and Napa rivers. A pumping station used by the town has been turned off, and people are being advised not to drink well water, while supplies of bottled water are brought in by truck. The spill is reported to have been caused by a mudslide on El Reventador Volcano.

Map showing the relative positions of the Trans Ecuadorian Pipeline and the Reventador volcano, from a report into damage caused to the pipeline by the volcano in a 1987 incident - suggesting this is not a new problem. Schuster et al. (1991).

The Trans Ecuador Pipeline carries crude from oil fields in the Ecuadorian Amazon to the port of Esmeraldas on the Pacific coast. The project was originally a joint project between US oil company Texaco and the Ecuadorian Government, but was taken over entirely by the Ecuadorians in 1990 following a series of environmental problems in the previously pristine rainforest. This does not seem to have improved the situation, with leaks remaining frequent in the area. The Ecuadorian government has been involved in a protracted legal dispute with Chevron, Texaco's parent company, for some years, with Ecuador claiming restitution for environmental damage on behalf of the people of the Amazon Basin, and Chevron refusing to settle on the grounds that much of the environmental damage has occurred since the government took over the operation. 

In May 2013 a court in Argentina froze Chevron's assets in that country over companies refusal to comply with legal rulings in Ecuador, potentially halting the company's planned exploitation of the Vaca Muerta shale formation in that country.

See also Plains Midstream Canada charged over April 2011 Alberta oil spill, Oil spill in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, Homes evacuated after Arkansas oil leak, Eruption on Volcán El Reventador and Chevron & Ecuadorian government seek to use arbitration to settle Amazon damages case.

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Willard Bay State Park, Utah, closed by oil spill.

Willard Bay is a freshwater reservior seperated off from Great Salt Lake in 1964. It suplies freshwater to much of northern Utah, an is a popular recreational facility, with camping, boating and fishing facilities. On Monday 18 March 2013 the northern part of the park was closed following a leak from a deisel pipeline connecting Salt Lake City to Burley, Idaho, which was detected when opperators Chevron detected a fall in pressue in the pipe.

Map showing the location of Willard Bay State Park. Standard-Examiner.

Two campers and the family of the park manager were evacuated and the northern part of the park, where the spill occurred, was closed as a precaution. Since the southern part of the park was closed for seasonal maintenance, this means the park is currently completely shut, although workers from Utah State Parks are now attempting to reopen the southern part of the park as quickly as possible.

Deisel is believed to have been prevented from entering the reservoir itslef by a series of beaver dams, though scientists from the Utah Division of Water Quality are monitoring the situation closely. Sadly the Beaver dams are likely to be demolished as part of the cleanup operation. Two oiled beavers have been brought into local rescue centers since Monday, it is unclear how the rest of the local population has been affected.

Workers from Chevron began excavating the area around the pipeline on Tuesday, vacuuming spilt fuel from the ditch in the process. The United States Environmental Protection Agency also have a team on the ground, and have expressed concerns about the possibility of contamination enetering the reservoir or affecting migratory birds, including Snow Geese, Tundra Swans and Pelicans, which are expected to start ariving at the site within the next two weeks.

Workers from Chevron excavating the damaged pipeline on Wednesday. Salt Lake Tribune.

The pipeline is believed to have leaked at least 83 000 liters of diesel, and it is not clear that the leak has been halted. The area near the pipeline has been isolated from the reservoir by a series of absorbant booms.Chevron have been ordered not to reopen the pipeline without permission from U.S. Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

This is the third serious spill from a pipeline in Utah in three years; it follows on from two spills near Red Butte Garden in 2010. Utah is crossed by a network of aging pipelines (this weeks leak comes from a pipeline laid in 1950), and environmental groups such as Friends of the Great Salt Lake have raised questions as to whether this is a sustainable situation.

See also North Sea oil rig partially evacuated following leak, Dutch court fines Shell over pollution in ther Niger Delta, Pipeline explosion in Ogun State, southwest Nigeria, Gas pipeline explosion in West Virginia and Amnesty International reports on the 2012 Bodo Oil Spill.

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Chevron & Ecuadorian government seek to use arbitration to settle Amazon damages case.

Oil extraction began in Ecuador in 1878, with a number of foreign companies operating in the country ever since. Texas-based oil giant Texaco operated in the country from 1964 till 1992, during which time the company maintains that it complied with Ecuadorian environmental regulations scrupulously; when the company pulled out of Ecuador it invested US$40 million in a remediation program in the country, and signed an agreement with the Ecuadorean government releasing it from further liability claims by the Ecuadorean State.

In 1993 lawyers acting on behalf of Ecuadorean environmental activists launched the first of a four legal actions against Texaco, and later Chevron (who acquired Texaco in 2001, and became liable for the companies debts) in a US court. All of these actions were opposed and subsequently dismissed on the basis that the US was not the correct jurisdiction.

In 2003 lawyers in Ecuador began a court case on behalf of 30 000 residents of the Amazon region, who claim their livelihoods and health have been damaged by oil pollution. Chevron does not deny that there is pollution in the region, but claims that it is the responsibility of Petroecuador, who have been the sole operators in the region since Texaco pulled out.

A waste pool at the Shushufindi 38 well at Orellana in Ecuador in 2010. This site was opened by Texaco in the 1970s, but the company insists that any pollution at the site occurred after it pulled out of the country in 1992. AFP.

In February 2011 the Ecuadorean court ruled that Chevron should pay US$8.6 billion in compensation to the people of the region, to finance a cleanup operation and develop a local healthcare system. Chevron immediately appealed this decision, as well as seeking an injunction against any payments being demanded in the International Court in The Hague, and filing a law suit against the Ecuadorian legal firm involved in a New York court, accusing them of racketeering.

In January this year (2012) the Ecuadorian Appeal Court upheld the original court's decision, with the additional stipulation that the damages would be doubled if Chevron refused to apologize and adding a 10% fine, for a total of US$18.2 billion; a third of Ecuador's annual Gross Domestic Product, or 8% of Chevron's stock market value. Chevron responded by accusing the Ecuadorean judiciary of corruption and politicization, provoking counter-claims by Ecuadorian environmental groups that Chevron has tried to bribe and intimidate Ecuadorian officials, and vows by Ecuadorean lawyers to seek to seize the assets of Chevron in other countries (Chevron has none in Ecuador).

Protestors against Chevron in Ecuador. Link TV.

Chevron have now taken the case back to the US (the country they argued did not have jurisdiction), where they have sort arbitration under the terms of the US-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Agreement. Such arbitration processes have been used in the past to look at the nationalization of US assets in other countries, but not in a case such as this, something the US consumer group Public Citizen has described as 'an effort to expand jurisdiction', and that Ecuadorian groups have raised concern might lead to the Ecuadorian Government being ordered to interfere with the country's judicial system.

The arbitration process will apparently be made up of a three-man panel, an American law expert chosen by Chevron, a British academic from Oxford, chosen by the Ecuadorean Government, and a British lawyer to be chosen jointly. The Ecuadorean environmental groups will not be represented, and it is unclear how they will act to any verdict.

See also Chevron exploration rig still burning in the Niger Delta, Protestors object to the expansion of the Conga Mine in Peru, BP takes legal action against Halliburton over Deepwater Horizon disaster, Dutch court upholds fine against commodities giant Trafigura for illegally exporting toxic waste to Côte d'Ivoire and Oil spill off the coast of Nigeria.

Chevron exploration rig still burning in the Niger Delta.

On 16 January 2012 the KS Endeavor, a Liberian flagged exploration drilling rig being operated in the Niger Delta by FODE Drilling Nigeria Ltd. on behalf of petrochemicals giant Chevron, caught fire after an explosion. 152 workers on the rig were evacuated with the help of local people, but two more, described as an Indian and a French National are still missing, and are now presumed to be dead. Two of the survivors are being treated for burns.

The fire on the KS Endeavor. Chevron/AP.

The KS Endeavor was carrying out exploratory drilling for natural gas on the Funiwa Field, about 10 km off the coast of Bayelsa State when it ran into trouble, apparently after a sudden increase in gas pressure. Local people involved in the rescue have described the incident as an 'industrial accident'. A Chevron spokesman has expressed gratitude to local communities for their help in evacuating survivors.

The fire has caused Chevron to halt production on the nearby North Apoi Oil Field until it can be extinguished. The rig has apparently been largely destroyed by the blaze, which persists as a gas flare. Chevron are hoping to drill a relief well to starve the flare of fuel, but this will need to be sunk to a depth of 2740 m, which will require about 30 days.

In the meantime local communities are complaining of mass fish die-offs, as well as widespread respiratory problems, skin complaints and gastrointestinal problems, and concerns have been raised that the heat from the fire might fuel bacterial or algal blooms, causing further environmental and health problems. The group Environmental Rights Action (ERA) reports that the fire has severely impaired the activities of local fishermen. Chevron has stated that it is providing food to local communities, but ERA have recorded this as 50 bags of rice, 50 bags of cassava flour, one cow, and unspecified amounts of vegetable, palm and groundnut oil, cartons of tomatoes and canned drinks, among the tens of thousands of residents in the effected area. Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency has also promised to send assistance to the afflicted area, but it is unclear what form this will take, or when it will arrive.

Environmental and human rights groups have frequently been extremely critical of both the Nigerian Government and foreign oil companies operating in the Niger Delta, citing the differences between the vast wealth produced by the oil industry and the extreme poverty of many people in areas from which oil is extracted, as well as the frequent environmental problems in the area.

See also BP takes legal action against Halliburton over Deepwater Horizon disaster, Dutch court upholds fine against commodities giant Trafigura for illegally exporting toxic waste to Côte d'Ivoire, Oil spill off the coast of Nigeria, Russian oil rig capsizes and sinks in under 20 minutes in the Sea of Othotsk and The UN reports on oil pollution in Ogoniland, Nigeria.