The Federal Government has announced that Wednesday’s fire that engulfed Ukpokiti Oil Field, operated by Shebah Exploration and Production Company Limited (SEPCOL), has been extinguished.
A Floating Production Storage and Offtake (FPSO) vessel deployed at the offshore oil well had an explosion which left some 10 crew members missing on Feb 2.
FPSO is a special vessel equipped to drill, process crude and store for loading to oil tankers for export.
SEPCOL, operator of the ill-fated facility at Escarvous offshore Delta on Sunday said that three crew members have been rescued while one dead crew member has been recovered while search and rescue efforts are being intensified.
A statement by Mr Saghir el Mohammed, Director Press of the Ministry of Environment on Sunday in Abuja disclosed that the situation is under control and the field under surveillance.
The statement quoted Chief Sharon Ikeazor, Minister for State of the ministry as giving update on the situation and assuring that the National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency (NOSDRA), was monitoring the situation.
According to her, NOSDRA has gone for overflight on Sunday and is scheduled to continue on Monday, to monitor the situation of crude spill in the sea.
“The overflight operation will be sustained in the weeks ahead, until whatever remnants of oil in the Floating Production Storage Offtake (FPSO), is evacuated and measures evolved to forestall a recurrence of such kind of incident.
“We want to assure that necessary efforts are being made to ensure the fire incident at Ukpokiti oil field is contained, after a fire engulfed the FPSO vessel named ‘Trinity Spirit’ in the early hours of Feb. 2, 2022.
“The fire incident at Ukpokiti Oil Field was eventually contained on the evening of Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022,” she said.
Ikeazor made this known after receiving an update from the Director-General of NOSDRA, saying a ‘joint investigation’ operation was conducted at the incident area on Feb. 5.
She equally said that NOSDRA had an overflight on the incident area on Feb. 4, to ascertain from the air what the surrounding conditions were, after extinguishing the fire.
According to the minister, a joint investigation visit to the incident area, as well as the FPSO, was undertaken on Feb. 5, by NOSDRA.
“The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the State Ministry of Environment, Representatives of Communities proximate to the Area and staff of SEPCOL, intervened to the situation.
“While the cause of the fire incident is yet to be fully determined, the environment around the FPSO is only slightly covered by sheen and emulsified oil.
“It was earlier reported that the approximate quantity of oil in the FPSO in the recent past was said to be a little less than 200,000 barrels.
“One of the operators utilizing the services provided by the FPSO was said to have made an Offtake of approximately 120,000 barrels before the incident; leaving an estimate of around 50,000 to 60,000 barrels in the FPSO as at the time of the fire incident.
“NOSDRA will continue to give updates on this incident after each aerial surveillance scheduled for Feb. 6th and 7th,” Ikeazor assured.
