SPECIALISTS from US blowout control specialist Boots & Coots have been called on to plug a Nigerian oil well that, according to one expert estimate, has been spilling up to 20,000 barrels per day of hydrocarbons into the Niger Delta's fragile mangrove ecosystem in Bayelsa State for nearly three weeks. Lagos-based Aiteo Group, operator of the Santa Barbara South-1 well in Nembe Creek, has been lambasted by local communities for failing to bring the blowout under control, while the governor of Bayelsa state has spoken of "consequences" for the oil company owned by Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters. The well lies in OML 29 in Ijaw territory, which Aiteo acquired in 2014 for $2.4 billion from Shell and other partners. Halliburton confirmed that its Boots & Coots subsidiary has been hired "to assist Aiteo with a team of well-control specialists" for the Nembe Creek well but said the operator should be contacted for more information on relief efforts.
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