Latest update April 18th, 2025 8:12 AM
Three dead, four missing after Nigerian FPSO explosion
The aftermath of the oil ship explosion. [Photo credit, Reuters]
It was reported that during the wee hours on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, the Nigerian oil production and storage ship with approximately 60,000 barrels of crude stored on board exploded.
An official of the Sheba Oil Exploration and Production Company Limited (SEPCOL), Ikemefuna Okafor confirmed the incident in a statement on Thursday last. In fact, Okafor said a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel named ‘Trinity Spirit’ exploded in Ukpokiti, on the coast of Nigeria’s southern Delta state.
As a result of the explosion, one of the 10-member crew that was onboard Trinity Spirit at the time of the explosion was feared dead.
However, SEPCOL CEO, Okafor said in a statement that an additional two dead bodies were found on the vessel’s deck on Sunday. “We can confirm today [Sunday] that two further dead bodies were discovered on the deck of the vessel in the afternoon of the same Sunday,” Okafor noted.
He added, “We have made incident reports to the police and relevant authorities to assist the ongoing investigation, and due process to establish the identities of the dead bodies is underway.”
According to Okafor, on Sunday morning last, Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency, (NIMASA) notified SEPCOL of a dead body found floating in the vicinity of the FPSO. SEPCOL had previously announced that three crew members were found alive, and one yet-to-be-identified dead body recovered from the vicinity of the FPSO. “Thus far, the potential total number of the crew members accounted for is six, including the three persons who were found alive last week. Our priority remains focused towards establishing the whereabouts, safety, and security of the four crew members still missing,” he added.
Nigeria, Minister of State for Environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor, last week announced that the fire on the Trinity Spirit was extinguished and that approximately 60,000 barrels of crude were on the FPSO at the time of the explosion.
According to the Minister, the cause of the fire is still to be determined. A SEPCOL official said that initial responders to the incident included local fishermen and Clean Nigeria Associates, a team operating at a nearby facility. The official noted too that the extent of damage is still unknown but the ship was able to store up to two million barrels of oil and the explosion raises serious environmental concerns.
A screengrab taken from a video of the explosion in Nigeria.
Kaieteur News reported that three months ago an oil spill in nearby Bayelsa state spewed for one month, causing severe damage to land and water bodies before it was contained.
Ibiosiya Sukubo, a leader of one of the communities in the Niger Delta that was recently affected said, “The ecological and aquatic devastation caused by oil and gas exploitation and exploration has been quite colossal and astronomical. The movement of heavy marine vessels creating a host of turbidity without proper compensation, alleviation, remediation, is an appalling circumstance we find ourselves in, in the Niger Delta.”
Nigeria is trying to maximise its petroleum output, and authorities have intensified a crackdown on illegal tapping of pipelines. Petroleum officials say the country loses some 150,000 barrels of oil a day to such theft.
The Nigeria incident comes at a time when Guyana is still to secure full coverage insurance from oil operators here despite numerous calls for such. Currently, the Liza Destiny vessel is operating at the Liza Phase One Project in the absence of full coverage insurance. Next month, Guyana will be starting up its second oil ship called the Liza Unity. It will be producing 220,000 barrels of oil from the Liza Phase Two Project.
Despite numerous calls from local and regional actors, neither the PPP/C Government nor ExxonMobil have made any effort to give Guyana full coverage insurance to protect its environs and citizens from the irreversible and devastating effects of a potential oil spill.
On January 15, 2022, almost 12, 000 barrels of crude was spilled from one of the La Pampilla refineries off the coast of Ventanilla in the region of Lima, Peru. It was reported that the spill was caused by shock waves from an undersea volcanic eruption near Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean. At the time of the undersea eruption, Suezmax tanker, Mare Doricum, was offloading a shipment of Brazilian crude oil at one of La Pampilla refinery’s offshore mooring buoys, and as such, a quantity of the cargo was released.
A Peruvian judge has since imposed an 18-month travel ban on four officials of the Spanish oil giant, Repsol, the owner of the refinery, in the event of criminal charges being brought against them and the Peru’s government had suspended the company’s operations. However, they later ordered a temporary lift on the suspension due to a shortage of fuel in Peru. There was also a recent oil spill in Ecuador, which resulted in the Amazon being contaminated. A mudslide, which was caused by heavy rain fall, caused a pipeline to burst resulting in two hectares of the Ecuador Amazon and 130 miles of a river being contaminated with crude.
Even as the company that owns the pipeline promised to clean up the oil, the country vows to take legal actions against them.
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