Italian oil company Eni has blamed sabotage for oil spill on its Nembe-Obama pipeline located in Bayelsa state, South-South Nigeria. A spokesman of the company said on Sunday.

“Repair work has started. The wells of Nembe South have been closed with minimal impact on production,” a spokesman for the company said.

The company had declared a net output of 128,000 barrels per day in 2009. Cases of sabotage have been reduced since the launch of the Presidential Amnesty Programme by the Late president Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration, but this year has recorded a higher rate of pipeline vandalism and oil theft.

The federal government and the operating oil companies have laid the blame primarily on the host communities. They claim the communities do so for compensation of the environmental damage.

Chairman of Oil and Gas, Nembe City, Nengi James expressed disappointment of the Italian company’s failure to develop the community.

“It is indeed sad and most unfortunate that in spite of the huge consequences occasioned by the oil spill, Eni has failed to discuss development.

“They (oil firms) allow oil spills to spread to rivers and mangrove forests before coming for inspection and clean-up.”

Traditional fishing livelihood has been taken by the environmental degradation caused by the spills in the Niger Delta region.