Communities to storm oil facilities today?

The aggrieved communities will invade the facilities with a team of experts for demarcation, an exercise allegedly being avoided by Chevron.

Community sources said yesterday that they would carry out the exercise with or without the cooperation of the company.

The spill from the two facilities have pitched the host communities against the American oil firm: both sides disagreed over the cause of the spill.

But CNL’s position was weakened by its repair of the facilities, contrary to industry standard that required a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) to ascertain its cause.

Kokodiagbene, Jones Creek and other communities insisted on following the due process of demarcation, mapping and other activities, preparatory to compensation.

But CNL’s management, according to sources, is only prepared to pay out ex-gratia money to the communities, even as it insists that the spill resulted from third party intervention.

A source within the host communities said: “We have concluded plans on the expiration of our ultimatum to carry out our own independent survey and demarcation on impacted areas, demarcation.

“We are going there tomorrow (today) with team of surveyors and members of Kokodiagbene and the eight communities. After the exercise, we shall go to the platform (Otunana).”

The source, who craved anonymity, said the communities have shelved its planned siege and take over of the platform because of the intervention of some Ijaw leaders.

“But we will go there after the exercise with the team of surveyors who will produce the survey map of the affected areas just to convince Chevron that we would not let the issue die like that,” the source added.