TotalEnergies on Thursday confirmed an oil leak at the company’s 2.3 million storage capacity Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Country Communication Manager, TotalEnergies, Charles Ebereonwu, in a statement said the incident has been contained.
He claimed that it was a minor one and had been contained with appropriate remedial measures.
Ebereonwu said: “This is not a massive leak and the sheen has been treated with the appropriate response that resulted in a reduction of most of it.
“No shoreline or communities have been impacted. The crude oil production at the 200,000 barrels per day capacity facility, with a storage capacity of 2.3 million barrels of crude was not affected by the incident.”
But a source who did not want to be named said Nigeria may be losing about 2.3 million barrels of crude oil as a result of the spill.
The oil field is located about 130 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria at water depths of more than 1,500 meters. It is one of our most ambitious ultra-deep offshore projects and was primarily developed locally to accelerate the pace of Nigeria’s industrial fabric and the transfer of technology, the project will produce 200,000 barrels of oil per day, i.e., close to 10% of the country’s total oil production.
The spokesperson of Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Osagie Edward, had in a statement said the agency was collaborating with the spill detention agency and the oil industry regulator to contain the spill, though the volume is not yet confirmed, spokesperson Osagie Edward said in a statement.