LAGOS — A Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel Trinity Spirit with a capacity to process up to 22,000 barrels of oil per day, inject up to 40,000 barrels of water per day and store 2 million barrels of oil, has exploded and sunk at the Ukpokiti Terminal, around Excravos, Warri South-west, Delta State, Nigeria.

According to the first information, ten workers were onboard the facilities, of which seven are missing, and three casualties feared on Thursday.

The incident is confirmed by owner SEPCOL: “The management of Shebah Exploration & Production Company Ltd (SEPCOL) in receivership, hereby announces 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.”

Shebah said it was exploring the cause of the explosion and that it was working with various parties to handle the problem. Complicating issues, the company is in receivership and has a number of legal challenges.

Local reports, though, have suggested there were a number of deaths. Video on social media shows a number of men in life jackets escaping in a boat.

The Trinity Spirit is located on OML 108. Conoco had held a 40% stake in the block but it transferred this interest to Shebah in 2004. The block holds the Ukpokiti field and a number of other discoveries.

Shebah’s statement went on to express thanks to the Clean Nigeria Associates, Chevron’s local team at Escravos and community stakeholders, including fishermen. It has informed the authorities, Shebah said. It asked for members of the public to stay away from the area while the investigation continues.

Rystad Energy’s senior analyst Zhenying Wu commented on the Trinity Spirit disaster, stating: “The Trinity Spirit explosion is not expected to alter Nigerian oil production and will therefore not have an impact on oil prices in the short term, as the unit was not producing at the time of the explosion. The primary concern is the potential environmental implications of the situation, which will be hard to quantify until after the dust settles and the aftermath is assessed.”

The Trinity Spirit floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel was positioned in the Ukpokiti field off the coast of Nigeria, where it has operated since 1997. The vessel is capable of producing liquids at the rate of 22,000 barrels per day (bpd), it is likely that the unit has not been producing oil since 2019, and has been used solely for storage purposes.

The Trinity Spirit was capable of storing up to 2 million barrels of crude oil, but it is unlikely that it was operating at full capacity or had full storage at the time of the incident, said Wu, adding, the impact of the Trinity Spirit leak in terms of leakage is likely to be considerably lower than the most recent large offshore oil spill, the Deepwater Horizon crisis which leaked around 4.9 million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.

The hull of the Trinity Spirit was originally built in 1976 and the latest upgrade took place in 1997, highlighting the age of the vessel. The Trinity Spirit was at the end of its lifespan, which is a cause for concern for other similar vessels and operations in Nigerian waters as they operate in a region with minimal regulations. — Agencies