By John Ugo
Anxiety has heightened in the oil rich Niger Delta region following reports of missing ten crew members of the Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd on Thursday.
The oil prospecting firm had announced on Thursday that its offshore facility, the FPSO Trinity Spirit located at the Ukpokiti Teminal, near Escravos, was engulfed by fire, following an explosion in the early hours of Wednesday.
Chief Executive Officer, Ikemefuna Okafor, said in a statement said “At this time, there are no reported fatalities, but we can confirm that there were 10 crew men on board the vessel prior to the incident and we are prioritising investigations with respect to their safety and security.”
The cause of the explosion is currently being investigated and we are working with necessary parties to contain the situation,” Okafor said
The facility, which serves as the primary production facility for Oil Mining Lease 108 located offshore in the western Niger Delta, has a processing capacity of 22, 000 barrels per day and a storage capacity of 2 million barrels.
The company appreciated the assistance provided by the Clean Nigeria Associates, the Chevron team operating in the nearby Escravos facility, and its community stakeholders as well as fishermen, who it said had 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 continues to monitor the situation and update all stakeholders with new information as the investigation evolves,” it said.
