Crude and gas escape in Niger ended after being active for 25 days

A crude and gas escape in Niger, which began at the end of September in the northeast of the country, ended on October 20, after “25 days of intense activity,” the government announced today.

Characterized by the projection of large amounts of oil and gas to more than 10 meters high, the spill began on September 25. At the time, it was classified by the Nigerian authorities as an “exceptional gravity” environmental incident.

The Ministries of Oil and the Environment stated, on Tuesday night, in a statement read on public television, that “on October 20, around 07:00 (06:00 in Lisbon), the escape in the well Goumeri W8 ceased, after 25 days of intense activity”.

“The escape has naturally stopped, without decisive human intervention”, according to the Government, which ensures that the interruption “has been confirmed (on site) by a permanent mission of the State” and “by satellite observations”.

“No new escape” has been observed since then on the spot, where security operations continue, secured the two ministries in the communiqué.

The incident occurred in the Agadem oil block, located about 1,700 km from Niamey, the capital. The area is operated by CNPC Nigeria Petroleum S.A., a local subsidiary of the Chinese multinational China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

According to the authorities, the escape “has not affected the production of the Agadem block or the supply of oil products to the country”.

A committee of inquiry should “determine the causes of escape”, they added. The two ministries also reported that collections were carried out in water, soil, vegetation and animals, and that “the results of the analyses will be publicized as soon as possible”.

Niger, governed by a military regime since a coup in 2023, has been an oil producer since 2011. Currently, the production in Agadem is 20,000 barrels a day of refined oil and 90,000 barrels of crude oil.