Warri riverine communities express fears over oil spill from faulty FPSO

Residents of riverine communities around Warri in Delta State have expressed fears of a possible oil spill from the faulty Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, Sea Eagle, which belongs to Shell Petroleum Development Company.

Recall that the Shell-owned FPSO started taking in water almost a week ago after suffering a leak in one of its compartments.

Although the company recently reiterated that the leak did not affect the area where crude oil is stored on the FPSO, some fishing communities around Warri town have called on relevant government agencies to be on top of the matter since the vessel is yet to stop taking in water almost a week after it suffered an ingress.

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, a member of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) who wouldn’t want his name in print explained that some communities around Warri town have started raising eyebrows over the lingering state of the FPSO almost one week after it started taking in water.

According to the Rivers Chapter member of the MWUN, “It is almost a week since that FPSO, Sea Eagle, started taking in water.

“NIMASA is aware of the situation and we learnt some of their personnel have even visited the ship. However, the vessel is still taking in water, and this is raising tension in some communities around there.

“The leadership of some fishing groups from Egbema and Gbaramutu kingdoms has reached out to us concerning the FPSO. Their fear is unconnected with the fact that they hope that the ingress situation of the vessel does not deteriorate to a situation where there will be another oil spill in the area.

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“For these communities, fishing is their life and once there is an oil spill, it affects their fishing pattern. That FPSO, we learnt, belongs to Shell and they are carrying repair works on it. It has been days since it started taking in water, these communities need assurances that there won’t be an oil spill in the area.”

Recall that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) recently deployed safety professionals to the Sea Eagle after it was noticed that it started taking in water on Sunday, July 24, 2022.

In a post on Twitter, the Director-General of NIMASA, Dr Bashir Jamoh, stated that, “It has come to our attention at NIMASA of a developing situation on the Nigerian-flagged FPSO Sea Eagle, owned by Shell.

According to the tweet, NIMASA said, “Currently, offshore Nigerian waters, the FPSO began taking in water on Sunday, July 24.

“NIMASA received a call from the Incident Manager appraising the agency of the situation in compliance with the Merchant Shipping Act and in line with the operators reporting obligation to the Maritime Administration of such an emergency.

“The measures so far taken are; carried out remedial repairs to reduce the level of ingress and to improve buoyancy; called for emergency tanker update of the crude onboard and ballast control to tighten her up; additionally reduced Person on Board (PoB), especially non-essentials. There is a need to carry out complete repairs.

“As at 1pm on Monday, ingress had reduced and they are still in control. The evolving situation is deemed stable but sensitive.

“However, as a proactive measure and in line with our maritime administration function, we have deployed our team comprising of safety casualty, marine investigation and marine environment management professionals to the location for further assessment of the situation and real-time management in line with our mandate and obligation to ensure the safety of lives at sea and the protection of the marine environment from possible pollution.”