"Oil waste managers face lean days, criticism over standards"
To the puzzlement of local observers, thousands of tonnes of drilling wastes are being moved from a Tullow Oil storage area to a treatment plant that is not yet operational, while a brand new waste management facility stands relatively idle a few kilometres away in Hoima district. The plant under construction is a joint venture between a Ugandan company, White Nile Consults, and TEDA Landoo Oilfield Services, based in Tianjin, China. White Nile Consults...won a contract from Tullow to handle wastes from the south of the oil exploration area that Tullow operates...
...[A]ccording to White Nile staff on the site...they are receiving around 16 trucks a day, each carrying ten tonnes of solid waste. This is piled in a line stretching one hundred metres downhill inside the fenced, 150 acre site, and covered in black plastic...Hoima District Environment Officer, Joseline Nyangoma, is worried about the way the waste is being stored while it waits for treatment. “For me, I don´t think it is up to standard,” she says, noting that there is no provision for collecting contaminated water that may leach from the drill cuttings.
Tullow Oil representatives, however, spoke up in defence of their contractor, and of their own role in promoting local capacity for waste management...Ntale insists that White Nile is storing the waste in lined pits that are as safe as Tullow’s temporary storage facilities. [also refers to Teda Landoo Oilfield Services & Enviroserve]
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