The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has said that it deployed an aircraft, five vessels to contain the oil leakage from the Egina facility operated by TotalEnergies.
Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of NOSDRA, Mr Idris Musa, gave an update on the response to the incident in a statement on Saturday.
Musa explained that the agency promptly deployed its personnel to the spill site, a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel in the Atlantic Ocean located about 130 kilometres off Rivers/Akwa Ibom coastline.
According to the spills agency, the spill response aircraft and vessels were used to apply dispersants on the oil leak that occurred on November 15, a development that kept the spill from impacting the shorelines.
According to him, the spill was caused by an operational mishap due to an export hose failure.
He explained that the prompt response from the operator to the spill led to identification and leak stop as spilt crude was being contained to avoid further spread and damage to the environment.
He said: “The Agency received the report of a crude oil spill incident from TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Plc which occurred from the company’s Egine Floating. Production Storage and Offload (FPSO) facility.
“The spill is as a result of export hose snap on November 15 at 06:27 hrs. The facility is located deep offshore at a distance of 130 km from the shoreline, and ultra deep-water depth of 1150 m.The report of the incident complies with extant laws and regulations.
He noted: “Following a request from TotalEnergies, we facilitated entry into Nigeria, a Borba dispersant application aircraft and six expatriates from Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) Southampton, UK to hasten response activities.
“The support results from the approval from relevant government agencies as contained in the Nation & Oil Spill Contingency Non (NOSCP) have been remarkable.”
On the spill response operations, Musa said that TotalEnergies and the agency’s team departed to the site on November 18, with 15,000 litres of dispersant COREXIT 9500 for spraying.
“The aircraft did three runs, spraying 10,500 litres of the dispersant on the affected areas while five vessels continued with mechanical agitation to breakdown the slick and carry out in-vessel spraying of dispersant.
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“Representatives from Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPPC) joined the response team from Lagos on November 21.
“On Wednesday, November 22, 2023, the OSRL Aircraft and dispersants sprayer were demobilised having concluded on the window of opportunity for such exercise,” he said.
