Early Wednesday morning, the Trinity Spirit, a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, exploded off the coast of Nigeria. Today, Nigeria’s Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) announced that the FPSO vessel was engulfed by flames from the explosion.
In a statement, SEPCOL said that 10 crew members were aboard the vessel.
“At this time there are no reported fatalities but we can confirm that there were 10 crewmen on board the vessel prior to the incident and we are prioritizing investigations with respect to their safety and security,” SEPCOL Chief Executive Ikemefuna Okafor said.
According to SEPCOL’s website, the Trinity Spirit can hold up to 2 million barrels and it can process 22,000 barrels of oil a day.
The amount of crude oil that spilled into the water as a result of the explosion is currently unknown.
SEPCOL also did not say how much oil was being stored on the vessel at the time of the explosion. An industry source said the vessel was storing about 50,000 barrels at the time, but it was not pumping any crude from the oilfield.
An investigation to find out the cause of the explosion is underway.
