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From Magnus Eze and Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Caritas University, Amorji Nike, Enugu State, has practically become a tourist site for some weeks now following a huge gas fire that has been raging within its premises. Not even the restrictions placed by the university authorities on the directives of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi could stop visitors from wanting to get to the gas fire scene.
The fire was ignited after drillers engaged by the authorities of the university to sink a borehole for the institution struck a gas belt after 1,242 feet.
It was gathered that, in their bid to test the liquid that was coming out with water, the men struck a lighter and the entire place burst into flames that has defied every attempt to quench it.
After some days of a fruitless battle against the fire, the spokesman of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Enugu State Command, CSP Denny-Manuel Iwuchukwu, spoke in a short video on what happened.
He explained that the efforts to extinguish the fire also attracted the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) that confirmed it had no oil pipeline route in the area. This was on the suspicion that it could be fire from a ruptured gas or oil pipeline.
That disclosure by the NNPC raisied questions on what could have caused the fire that could not be put out from deep inside the earth.
In fact, almost all emergency agencies, including the federal and state fire service, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), its state counterpart, SEMA, and others had intervened in a bid to put out the fire, all to no avail.
Other oil and gas agencies as well as environmental bodies like the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) have also visited the fire site and made remediation attempts.
In the meantime, all vegetation around the huge flame has been cleared to avoid escalation.
An official of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) said the fire service lacked the technical expertise to put out the fire.
The source, who did not want his name in print, said only companies skilled in tackling oil and gas well fires could quench it.
He calculated that more than six million cubic feet of gas was burnt every day since the fire was ignited: “From my estimate, and from the intensity of the fire, which can be seen even from a helicopter, at least 5,000 cubic feet of gas is consumed every minute in that fire.
“If you multiply that by 60 minutes, multiplied by 24 hours, you will have more than six million cubic feet of gas burnt daily and that is a waste of resources.”
On what would happen if the fire was not put out, he said: “The fire will continue to burn for years, even decades, till the gas supplying it with fuel is exhausted.
“If it is a huge gas reserve like I’m suspecting, based on the feet upon which it was discovered, then it might last for over 50 years.”
On its part, the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) has called for caution in rushing to explain what happened.
President of NAPE, Dr. James Edet, in a statement, advised that the processes should be left to professionals such as NAPE and other experts to handle.
Edet said: “As NAPE, we are appealing to members of the public to tread with caution as they visit the site, to avoid burns and other hazards associated with this type of flare (water and gas leak) as it currently lacks appropriate safety measures to mitigate the flare. NAPE, through its experienced members who have worked in the oil and gas industry as well as the academia, will require access to more data to ascertain the source of this leak. With these data, solutions can be proffered to prevent future occurrences.”
NAPE is the umbrella association for persons involved in the professional application of geosciences and related disciplines, including exploration and production of oil and gas in the country.
The association called on organisations and persons engaging the services of water well drilling companies to seek professional geoscience advice and project support to understand subsurface geometry prior to their exploratory activity.
This, it said, would go a long way in forestalling unprofessional drilling practices and accompanying environmental impacts.
“NAPE also recognizes and acknowledges the remediation efforts so far deployed by NOSDRA, NUPRC, NEMA and the federal and state fire services.
“NAPE executives from our Awka/Owerri chapter, led by our chapter coordinator, Dr. Princeton Dim, have visited the site and are on standby to provide necessary technical and professional support to the relevant agencies to abate this continuous leakage of gas and water, an event that poses serious environmental concern to lives and properties of the community,” it said.
Regardless, experts have attempted to explain what happened at the borehole drilling site in Caritas University, Amorji Nike, near Emene-Enugu, on May 22.
A professor of chemical engineering, who wished not to be named told Daily Sun that the drillers must have hit a coal deposit, which started the emission of methylene that turned to combustion after it was ignited.
He mentioned some possible remedies, including digging a dip hole by the side of the fire and blocking the source from underground. He, however, expressed frustration that there was nothing his likes could do at this instance since government had cordoned off the site even without seeking a solution from professionals in neighbouring universities.
However, an operations manager for oil and gas rigs (land/swamp/water), Chidiebere Onwudiwe, an engineer, explained that, with natural gas, there were two types: gas-associated and non-associated gas.
He said that gas could be got naturally underground (unassociated) while it could also come through crude oil (associated).
The waste management expert, who asserted that there was a huge deposit of unassociated gas in Enugu State, which needs the attention of government, said the flare could continue until it emptied all the gas content within its scope.
Noting that such natural endowment could be used for cooking after purification, as well as power generation and other industrial activities, Onwudiwe warned that the continued flaring was very disastrous to the ecosystem: “The effect of gas flaring is beyond words. All that has life within the location will be affected. From the land to trees, air and human beings. Gas flaring is very disastrous. The continuous burning will convert all the air around it to carbon monoxide, which is harmful to living organisms.”
On his part, professor of environmental management and control, Christian Madu, said that childbirth deformity, cancer and respiratory disorders were possible fallouts of gas-flaring activity.
Madu, a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), said gas flaring remains a major environmental hazard, as, according to him, the pollutants emitted in the process pose serious health risks.
“For a sustained period of time, communities in such locations may suffer health issues like childbirth deformity, cancer and respiratory disorders,” he said.
Madu, who is the lead supervisor of researchers at the Centre for Environmental Management and Control, UNN, noted that the soil may also be contaminated, affecting food production: “It all depends on how long it will take to contain the gas-flared fire. If it is sustained for a longer period, the people around should consider relocating.”
Community, Enugu people rejoice
The authorities of Caritas University declined to speak to the press.
An official to Daily Sun that Ugwuanyi, during his visit to the place, directed that journalists and others should not be allowed access to the gas fire scene.
However, the host community is in an ecstatic mood since the gas ‘find.’ Traditional ruler of Amorji Nike community in Enugu East Local Government Area, Igwe Titus Okolo, told Daily Sun that they had for long looked up to a period like this.
He disclosed that his people had over the years noticed signs of crude oil in their area. He lamented that they had abandoned some of the streams that served their drinking and domestic needs because of suspected contamination by oil.
Okolo said their crops were not spared and they most times recorded poor yields as the leaves of the crops would suddenly turn yello due to soil deposits.
“We have been praying for this day to come for a long time. We have been having the signs for a long time. There are streams in my community that we don’t drink from. We don’t wash with the water because it is oily. When you go to the stream, you see traces of oil floating on the water. One of the streams is called Ngene Egu, while the other one is Ugwaka. We don’t take bath or cook with water from there because of the oil that floats on it. We have been praying for a day when God will make our dream a reality. So, I, my cabinet members and the entire Amorji community are excited. We are grateful to God.
“In the past, we have had a similar experience but it was not oil. There was a time we discovered this type of clay used in making ceramics. Our people called the attention of government to it. That was before the war. A sample was taken to Port Harcourt and it was confirmed that it was the material used in making ceramics. We were told the story afterwards. It is unfortunate that nothing was done to exploit it afterwards,” the traditional ruler said.
He expressed optimism that exploitation of the endowment would boost the economy of the state and also help in creating jobs for the unemployed youths of the state.
He, therefore, appealed to all prominent sons and daughters of Igboland to ensure that this natural endowment was fully exploited to the benefit of all.
Okolo said: “We are going to benefit a lot from this development. Look at our youths who are unemployed even after graduating from universities. They can be employed through this find. Even those who cannot fund the education of their children will be able to do so, if this is developed. It can also attract development such as roads and other infrastructure.
“It is not just the community that will benefit. The government also will benefit. All the development we see in the Niger Delta is because of the oil they have. If it comes to Enugu State, we all will be happy. It will be to our benefit. Even the white men will come here and they will benefit too. If it is well harnessed, it will be of great importance to the world. It will give huge revenue to both state and federal government.
“I am pleading with government to come into the site as quickly as possible. You know, anything that has to do with the Igbo is not always considered important. I am pleading with the Federal Government and even Enugu State government to take action.
“I am begging our senator, Chimaroke Nnamani, to do something. I am also begging our House of Representatives member, Cornelius Nnaji, and all Nike, Nkanu, Enugu State and Igbo men and women in high positions to do all within their power to see that this mineral is harnessed.
“If they keep quiet, this opportunity will pass us by because it is in Igboland. We have Igbo engineers who can also come and find out what actually happened there so that it will not be neglected and abandoned.”
The call by the traditional ruler seemed to have attracted former Minister of Information and 2023 governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Enugu State, Frank Nweke Jnr.
Nweke visited the gas fire site, where he said the accidental gas discovery had confirmed that the state was richly endowed.
Describing the gas leak as a blessing in disguise to the state, he promised to make the state join the league of oil and gas-producing states in the country, if he is elected as the next governor.
Nweke said: “This is a welcome development. It speaks against the significant endowment of Enugu State. There are gas deposits in Uzo-Uwani, Oji River, Eha-Alumona, Eha-Ndiagu.
“The question is, what are we going to do about it? Clearly, Enugu State has significant oil and gas deposits.
“Under my government, I will make a serious effort to ensure that Enugu State is recognized as an oil and gas-producing state. We will do this with every zeal because this has significant benefits for the state. Like some other states, we will expect then to begin to benefit from the derivation. We will also expect that investors will begin to come into Enugu State.”
Stressing that the APGA government would show that governance and public resources could be better managed, Nweke added: “For me, the discovery of this incident reveals again that we have an opportunity to talk about gas-fire power plant, LPG plants and production of fertilizer in Enugu. These are the raw materials you need for all of these things.
“What I’ll like to say to our people is that help is on the way.”
Previous discoveries
Meanwhile, a senior journalist and publisher of Africa-China News Centre, Mr. Ikenna Emewu, had before this period done some extensive report on untapped oil and gas deposits in parts of the South-East.
Emewu said his inquiries showed that such deposits exist in Ebonyi, Enugu and Anambra states.
According to the journalist, in March 2010, he toured the five states of the South East to document a report on oil finds in the region the government had abandoned to go searching for non-existent oil in the Lake Chad region.
Emewu said: “My report exposed oil finds in Edda, in present Ebonyi State with a test well at the premises of Orienta Primary School, Ezi Edda. That was the first oil find in Nigeria by Shell BP way back in 1928, 94 years ago.
“I also visited Anam in Anambra State to see another Shell oil well at Umueze Anam just by a road that was later named after Shell as a result of the oil find in 1972. The capped test well has a date of April 1972 on it and the locals call the road – Ezi ndi Shell (Shell Road)
“The locals also told me about some other oil wells by Shell also at a place they call Akpu Nnunnu, another at Oroma, Umuikwu, Mmiata, all parts of Anam in Anambra East LGA.
“My next visit was to the National Archives Enugu where I found documents to support oil finds in Awgu and Ehalumona in Nsukka, all in Enugu State today.
“The oil find document about Awgu is one of oldest after Edda.
“The archival documents have details that the Ehalumona find is about 90 percent natural gas. Experts say that beneath any natural gas find at the deeper level is the presence of crude oil.
“So, with the way geologic formations exist, it’s little surprise to informed people that natural gas and possibly crude oil was accidentally found in Nike last week, which is in the same vicinity of Awgu.
“The good accident has opened our eyes to a wealth hidden under our feet we never knew about.
“The challenge is now to the federal government that enacted laws to appropriate all mineral deposits in Nigeria as their personal belonging.
“We challenge the NNPC to do the needful and go for proper and detailed seismic survey of the area, take samples from the hole and deploy resources to tap natural gas in Enugu State and also commence similar surveys in Edda and the environs for exploration and development.”
He further urged the NNPC to also revisit the Anam oil deposits which had attracted so much attention over 20 years ago with Orient Oil Company promising to build a petrochemical plant to refine oil around there.
