The Management of Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) in RECEIVERSHIP has confirmed the unfortunate incident of a fire outbreak that engulfed its offshore facility, the FPSO Trinity Spirit located at the Ukpokiti Terminal.
This was confirmed from a statement shared with Nairametrics on Thursday.
According to the statement, which was signed by its Chief Executive Officer, Ikemefuna Okafor, the fire was caused by an explosion that occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, 2nd of February 2022.
What SEPCOL is saying about the fire incident
It stated, “The Management of Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) in RECEIVERSHIP hereby announce the unfortunate incident of a fire that engulfed our offshore facility, the FPSO Trinity Spirit located at the Ukpokiti Teminal, following an explosion during the early hours of Wednesday, 2nd of February 2022.
“The cause of the explosion is currently being investigated and we are working with necessary parties to contain the situation.
“At this time there are no reported fatalities, but we can confirm that there were ten crew men on board the vessel prior to the incident and we are prioritising investigations with respect to their safety and security.
“We appreciate the assistance provided us by the Clean Nigeria Associates, the Chevron team operating in the nearby Escravos facility and our community stakeholders as well as fishermen, who have been of tremendous assistance since the incident happened.
“We have duly notified all relevant authorities and we appeal to the members of the public to stay away from the area while our Crisis Management Team continue to monitor the situation and update all stakeholders with new information as the investigation evolves.”
What you should know about the facility, OML 108
- Asides from developing oil and gas business interests in other parts of Africa, within Nigeria, SEPCOL has a 40% interest in oil block OML 108.
- OML 108 (formerly OPL 74) was awarded to Express Petroleum and Gas Company in December 1990. Express assigned 40% interest to Conoco Energy Nigeria Limited as Technical advisor.
- Conoco relinquished its 40% stake in the block in 2004 and transferred it to Shebah Exploration & Production Company Limited same year. OML 108 covers an area of 750sqkm in water depth of 88ft (30m) in the western edge of the Niger Delta in shallow water offshore Nigeria, six miles southwest of Chevron’s Meren field but reaches water depth of 700ft (213m) on the southern portion of OML 108.
- The block is composed of oil-producing Ukpokiti field, Kunza discovery and deeper pool prospects in the southern portion of the block. The Ukpokiti field comprising of 5 (five) oil wells and 1 injector wells.
- Two exploration wells (Kunza-1 and Kunza-2) drilled in the Kunza discovery intersected commercial volumes of gas and condensate and will form the basis for coming appraisal, development and exploration effort. OML 108 holds significant leads towards the southern part of the block.
