EXCLUSIVE: Fresh oil spill hits Rivers community as Trans Niger pipeline ruptures

A fresh oil spill has been reported at the Freetown community in Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, South-south Nigeria, after a section of the Trans Niger Pipeline reportedly ruptured late Friday night, discharging crude into surrounding mangrove swamps.

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Community sources told PREMIUM TIMES that they woke up to see the spill in the early hours of Saturday, 14 February. They said the spill has continued to spread through tidal channels into adjoining water bodies.

Residents identified the facility as the Trans Niger Pipeline, formerly operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company, and now under the control of Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, which recently acquired Shell’s onshore assets in Nigeria.

Ekras Kobah, a community member who said he witnessed the incident, described the rupture as severe.

“Over 100 litres of oil are spilling into the mangrove swamp per hour. The tidal flow is already carrying it into other creeks,” Mr Kobah said. “The pipe has seriously ruptured, but it is still being used for production at high capacity. From what we can see, it appears to be corrosion.”

He added that the affected area has suffered repeated oil leaks in the past without full remediation.

“This is an environment already significantly impacted by previous spills. There has been no proper cleanup,” he said.

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Community members said the incident had been reported to the company, which allegedly assured them that a Joint Investigation Visit would be conducted on Sunday to determine the cause and volume of the spill.

However, Augustine Bello, the Port Harcourt Zonal Director of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, told PREMIUM TIMES he was unaware of the incident as it had not been formally reported to the agency as of Saturday afternoon.

Under Nigerian law, oil companies must report spills promptly to regulators and initiate containment and cleanup measures.

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The latest incident occurred amid a history of spills along the Trans Niger Pipeline corridor.

In May 2025, multiple spills were reported in communities near Oshika and Ikata in Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers, intensifying concerns over the integrity of ageing infrastructure in the Niger Delta.

Efforts to obtain comments from Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited were unsuccessful. Calls to the company’s official telephone line listed on its website did not connect.

An email sent to the company seeking clarification on the cause of the spill, immediate containment steps, long-term pipeline integrity measures, and cleanup and compensation plans had not been answered as of the time of filing this report.

Meanwhile, residents of Freetown fear the spill could devastate fishing grounds and further contaminate already fragile mangrove ecosystems if urgent containment measures are not implemented.