A fresh gas leak has occurred at the onshore oilfield of the Nigeria Agip Oil Company, NAOC, at Ikarama in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
This led to the discharge of large quantity of a mixture of crude and gas into the environment.
The residents of the community may have to relocate to safer area if the company does not clamp the gas leak soon.
The cause of the leak could not be ascertained at press time.
Ikarama has been plagued by a series of oil spills, thereby raising concerns.
The gas leak was observed on Monday by inhabitants of the community which they described as choking and hazardous.
The leak came barely three weeks after a gas leak from NAOC facility occurred at Ogboinbiri in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state.
When our correspondent visited the community yesterday, odour of the gas leak pervaded the area.
The spokesman of Ikarama Development Committee, Washington Odoyibo, confirmed the gas leak but said NAOC was yet to clamp the leakage.
He said: "The sound from the spill site could be heard even from our community, especially in the night where the community is relatively quiet.
"That confirms that it is a really serious spill. It was on Monday that one of our community ladies returned from the bush and told us that there was a very serious oil spill spraying like gas into the air along Agip pipeline."
National Mirror