Chevron Nigeria Limited has said it will not pay any compensation over the recent oil spill in Ekpan, Delta State, saying it had been absolved of complicity in the development through a comprehensive joint investigation visit (JIV) to the area by relevant government agencies.

Insisting that the spill was allegedly blown out of proportion by operators of the fish farm and the state government, the American oil company made available documents from the joint investigation from the National Oil and Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

The oil company further argued that the cluster of fish farms, which was well protected by separation walls, was not impacted by any spill from Chevron’s dockyard.

According to the JIV document dated July 23, 2010, NOSDRA stated that the incident occurred when a tugboat belonging to a Chevron contractor sunk near the dockyard, spilling eight litres of diesel into the water, which the oil firm claimed to have cleaned up immediately upon NOSDRA’s prompting.