Oil tanker explodes off Nigeria coast, 10 missing
A Nigerian oil company says an investigation is already underway to learn what caused an explosion on one of its tankers in southern Nigeria’s Delta region.
The Shebah Exploration & Production Company (SEPCOL) said in a statement that “a fire engulfed our offshore facility… following an explosion during the early hours of Wednesday.”
According to local reports, the Trinity Spirit exploded at the Ukpokiti oil field off Nigeria’s coast,
near the Escravos terminal close to the River Niger delta.
The vessel had ten crew
members on board. None of the crew have been accounted for.
At this time, there are
were no reported fatalities, but we can confirm that there were 10 crewmen
onboard the vessel prior to the incident,” Chief Executive Ikemefuna Okafor
said.
The tanker is an
FPSO, a floating production storage and offloading unit. These types of ships
are used for the production and processing and storage of oil and serve a
similar function to larger oil rigs.
The Trinity Spirit can process up to 22,000 barrels of oil a day and can store up to 2 million barrels at any one time, according to SEPCOL's website,but it is not known how much oil the Trinity held at the
time of the explosion.
