WARRI, Nigeria – An oil production and storage vessel exploded off the coast of Nigeria early Wednesday morning with 10 crew members on board although it is not clear if there were casualties or how much oil there was. crude spilled into the sea.
Nigeria’s Shebah Exploration & Production Ltd (SEPCOL) on Thursday said the fire had engulfed the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel Trinity Spirit following an explosion a day earlier.
Joe Sunday, an assistant boatman, said he was in one of two speedboats that set sail Wednesday morning to pick up some crew who were about to leave work but could not reach the ship because it had caught fire. burned.
“We drove around to see if we could see anyone, but we didn’t see anyone and the fire was still burning,” Sunday told Reuters at a port in Warri.
Tiby Tea, Chairman of the Maritime Alliance for the Nigerian Port Authority in Warri, confirmed that the two boats sent to the ship were unaccounted for.
“At this time there are no reports of deaths but we can confirm that there were 10 crew members on board prior to the incident and we are prioritizing investigations related to safety.” their safety and security,” SEPCOL CEO Ikemefuna Okafor said in a statement.
Trinity Spirit can process up to 22,000 barrels of oil per day and store maximum 2 SEPCOL’s website says.
The vessel had about 50,000 barrels in storage but was not pumping crude from the Ukpokiti oil field in OML 108 block when it exploded, a source active in Nigeria’s oil sector said.
The Nigerian regulator now known as the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) revoked the production license for OML 108 in 2019. SEPCOL is the technical operator of the block despite the production license. output is held by the consortium members. show Oil.
SEPCOL, the receiving company, did not respond to a request for comment on how much raw Trinity Spirit was in storage at the time of the explosion.
BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig was pumping tens of thousands of barrels a day when it exploded in 2010. By the time the well was plugged in 87 days later, 4 million barrels of crude had flowed into the Gulf of Mexico causing an environmental disaster. school.
Gbenga Komolafe, chief executive officer of NUPRC, told Reuters: “We received information about yesterday’s fire incident and we immediately ordered field workers to begin an investigation. Investigations are still ongoing.”
“Only after we receive a report on this investigation from our team will we issue a comprehensive statement without speculation,” he said.
SEPCOL’s Okafor said investigations are underway to determine the cause of the explosion while efforts to contain the situation are being made with help from the local community and US oil company Chevron. , there are facilities nearby.
The SEPCOL website says Trinity Spirit is the main production facility for OML 108 covering 750 square kilometers (290 square miles) of water off the Niger Delta, from depths of 30 meters to 213 meters, the SEPCOL website says. know.
