The fire at the Oil Mining Lease (OML) 18 operated by Eroton Exploration and Exploration Company has been extinguished, the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has said.

The incident suspected to be caused by activities of suspected oil thieves engulfed the Akaso 15L wellhead at Degema Local Government Area in Rivers on Jan. 20 and has been burning and discharging oil and gas into the ecosystem.

Mr. Idris Musa, Director-General of NOSDRA, told the media on Friday that the fire has been put out.

”The oil wellhead has been secured by an indigenous well control firm Kenyon International West Africa Ltd,” he said.

The indigenous firm was deployed to halt a good leak that lingered for over one month at the OML 29 operated by Aiteo Eastern Exploration in 2021.

Musa said that the spills management agency was engaging the operator of OML 18 for a Joint Investigative Visit (JIV) to the fire incident site which has been discharging oil and gas, polluting the area.

Eroton had confirmed the well-head fire incident at its Akaso field of the Cawthrone Channel operational area within OML 18 on Jan. 20.

The indigenous firm was deployed to halt a good leak that lingered for over one month at the OML 29 operated by Aiteo Eastern Exploration in 2021 when expatriates from Haliburton failed to deploy to the site due to the COVID-19 lock down.

The spokesperson of the indigenous oil firm, Mercy Ebibai, had in a statement, explained that the well was reported to be releasing hydrocarbon to the environment with wildfire due to suspected activities of vandals and oil thieves at the oil wellhead.

Eroton had in 2015 acquired a 45 percent interest in OML 18 for 737 million dollars following the divestment by the erstwhile operator, Shell.