… no cause for alarm as it did not impact production, Communities

TotalEnergies has urged Nigerians and the international community to calm down as the reported oil leak at its 2.3 million storage capacity Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, located in Port Harcourt, Rivers, has been contained.

It stated that the incident did not impact production at the five-year-old facility or the shoreline and host communities.

The company in a one-paragraph message sent to Business Standards by Dr. Charles Ebereonwu, Country Communications Manager for the company, insisted that there is no cause for alarm over the incident.

Ebereonwu said the leak was a minor one and had been contained with appropriate remedial measures.

“This is not a massive leak and the sheen has been treated with the appropriate response that reduced most of it. No shoreline or communities have been impacted. Production has not been affected.” He said.

The said oil leak at the 200,000 barrels per day Egina FPSO had occurred on November 15 while crude was being loaded from the facility to a vessel, according to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).

.NIMASA had in a statement issued earlier, reported a crude oil spill incident that occurred during loading operations in Egina FPSO.

In the statement signed by its Head of Public Relations, Edward Osagie, the agency said the incident occurred on November 15, 2023, at the 220,000 metric tons FPSO facility — operated by TotalEnergies — in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

NIMASA stated that it was collaborating with the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) from the Crisis Management Room (CMR) on the incident.

It added that it was using oil spill monitoring software from the emergency response centre to monitor the incident in real-time, adding that the volume is not yet confirmed.

NIMASA further said TotalEnergies was also conducting aircraft surveillance and applying dispersant while evaluating additional action to clean up the incident.

The Director General of NIMASA, Bashir Jamoh, had assured that the agency was collaborating with all stakeholders to control the pollution.

“Since the incident happened, our men have been liaising with other organs of government to ensure the pollution is effectively controlled and managed, to protect the marine environment and the communities close to the incident point.

“Accidents do happen, it’s what we do thereafter that matters and I believe that the IOC, Total, working with NIMASA, NUPRC, NOSDRA and collaborating with international service providers, will ensure proper management of the spill,” he said.

Located some 130 kilometres off the coast of Nigeria at water depths of more than 1,500 meters, the Egina oil field, which came on-stream in December 2018, is one of Nigeria’s most ambitious ultra-deep offshore projects.