OBEN GAS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Table of Contents and Executive Summary
1.4 Project Location
The Oben Field where the project shall be carried out is located within OML 4 SPDC land location about
90km South of Benin-city in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State and Ethiope East LGA,
Delta State. It shares a common boundary with PAN OCEAN’s OML 98. The Field was discovered in
April 1972. The site lies between Eastings (5 52’ 3.718”E) and Northings (6 0’ 39.296”N) and is
bounded by Oben, Iguelaba, Ikobi and Obozogbe-Nugu communities in Orhionmwon Local Government
Area of Edo State. The Field comprises of a Flowstation, a Gas Plant and a Nigerian Gas Company
(NGC) compressor station.
1.5 Consultation
This is an integral part of the WDGSP/WAGP at Oben Field, the project team, held a series of
stakeholder consultation sessions. The consultation sessions were in form of EIA scoping workshops,
sensitisation of Edo State Government and Orhionmwon Local Government Council and engagement of
stakeholders during data acquisition and open fora as part of the EIA studies. The stakeholders
identified for the project and who participated in the various consultation sessions included communities
within the project area, NGOs (Niger Delta Peace Coalition, Nigerian Environmental Society), regulators
(DPR, FMEnv, Edo State Ministry of Environment), other government agencies, consultants, CBOs,
media, etc. Consultations with stakeholders would improve corporate image through promotion of third
party participation especially during decommissioning activities which would lead to disengagement of
staff, labour issues and third party agitation
1.6 Baseline Environmental Status
The environmental characteristics of the proposed project area as indicated by the various ecological
components have been carefully studied through existing maps, meteorological reports, baseline
reports and detailed field studies.
1.6.1 Climate and Meteorology
The study area is located in the Gulf of Guinea and lies in the semi-hot equatorial zone and with distinct
climatic seasons, wet and dry. The climate in the area is typical of the equatorial rain forest. Two main
winds, southwest (SW) and the northeast (NE) generally influence the weather conditions in the project
area.
Within the project area, rainfall is generally high with an average of about 2480mm per annum, based
on historical records. Climatic conditions portray maximum wind speed of 55m/s in the north-eastern
direction at station 5 and a minimum of 0.9m/s at station 4 in the north-eastern direction
1.6.2 Air Quality and Noise
Gaseous pollutants, NOx, SOx suspended particulate matter (SPM) and all other air quality indicators are
all below DPR/FMEnv limits. The noise level ranged from 54.2-80.8dB(A), which is lower than
DPR/FMEnv limits of 90.0dB(A)
1.6.3 Soils
The texture of the soils in Oben Field ranges from sand to loamy sand. The percentages of silt and clay
are low. Clay particles ranged from 3.60 to 15.2% with a mean of 7.4%. Porosity is high and water
infiltration into the subsoil is fast. The soil pH is strongly to moderately acidic, ranging from 4.30 – 5.35
with a mean of 4.78.
The organic matter values were high and the exchangeable cations were very low. The heavy metal
concentrations of the soils in Oben Field were low except for iron whose concentration ranged between
115 and 340 mg/Kg. Most of the heavy metal values were below permissible limits to elicit
environmental concern. The total hydrocarbon (THC) values were low and below the 50 mg/Kg found in
soils with luxuriant growth of plants.
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