By Francis H. Murray
The Petroleum Directorate has said it is investigating reports of a possible discovery of oil in Blama Town, Kenema District.
Reports of discovery of oil in an abandoned well in the area has been widely circulated on social media about a week ago.
In a press statement, the Directorate said initial findings showed that the substance lacked the characteristics of crude oil.
As part of its broad mandate, the Petroleum Directorate is directly responsible to search or verify discovery of oil and gas deposits in Sierra Leone.
‘‘Whilst action is now on course to do a more detailed laboratory analysis of the sample to generate a definitive conclusion, preliminary (field) estimation has indicated that the substance in question lacks certain key physical properties that would normally characterize crude oil. Rather, the fluid seems to possess properties generally associated with petroleum products or refined oil - and in this case, petrol to be more specific,” the directorate said in a statement.
The statement added: “Within the vicinity - about 45 meters from the well is a 50-year old fuel station from which seepages could not have been uncommon. It was noted also that even closer to the well was reportedly an informal point of sale previously used to supply petroleum products, with similar possibility of fuel seepages or even dumping in the event of raids by law enforcement agents.’’
Sierra Leone has discovered crude oil deposits in its coastal waters. The allocation of licenses for drilling has been ongoing since last year. Kenema, where this latest “discovery” was made, is a largely swampy area which depends mainly on agriculture.
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