by TREVOR YEARWOOD

IT DOESN'T LOOK as if the Shell oil pipeline leakage in Christ Church was as bad as farmers painted it.

Geologist Daniel Yamashiro, a spokesman for the company which conducted a year-long series of environmental tests in the area traversed by the pipeline, made this comment yesterday.

"I don't see thousands and thousands of gallons [of aviation fuel in the ground]," Yamashiro, of Environmental Resources Management (ERM), told reporters during a briefing at Sherbourne Conference Centre.

He conceded, however, that a full interpretation of the findings documented in the three-volume, 2 700-page report still had to be made and further tests were to be conducted later this year "in the wet season" to complement "dry season" investigation.

He said jet fuel had been found in a number of monitoring wells, floating on the water.

The Southern Farmers group has said that as many as 300 000 gallons of aviation fuel might have seeped deep into farm lands in Christ Church after escaping in 1995 from the four-mile Shell pipeline running between Oistins and the Grantley Adams International Airport.

The group also contended that there was a heavy spill in 2003.

The oil leakage triggered crop damage, lower-than-expected yields and the closure of several farms in Gibbons, Chancery Lane, Ealing Grove, Pegwell, Enterprise and Sayes Court, according to the group.

The farmers are seeking compensation for the damage and loss of earnings and also want Shell to clean up the pollution.

The first part of the ERM probe ran from February last year to February this year.

The team conducted tests on as many as 26 farms, along the pipeline and in other areas. Soil, air and water samples were taken and analysed.

Yamashiro said there were some "data gaps" which the team had to fill.

For example, there was a need for information from the area of the Oistins Magistrates' Court, where Shell has sought permission to drill test wells.

Copies of the report are already in the hands of Government and members of the Southern Farmers group, which is expected to comment on the report today.