The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) says the November 15 spill from the Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel discharged 3,000 barrels of crude oil.
The Egina FPSO, located 130 kilometres off the Atlantic coastline and operated by TotalEnergies has capacity to produce 200,000 barrels of crude daily and can store 2.3 million barrels on board.
TotalEnergies in reaction to the oil leak through its Country Communication Manager, Charles Ebereonwu had said the incident was minor and there was no massive leak at the facility.
However, NOSDRA, Director- General /CEO, Mr Idris Musa in a follow -up statement on Sunday on the on-going response by the agency disclosed that a Joint Investigation Visit (JIV) report estimated the volume of leak at 3,000 barrels.
Musa who stated that the agency’s response was still ongoing as the leak has been largely contained added that the agency and the operator spared no effort in tackling the pollution to minimise impact on the environment, a development that kept the spilled crude from reaching the coastline.
He explained that the spills agency deployed high-level personnel and activated the National Oil Spills Contingency Plan (NOSCP) which deployed local and foreign resources and expertise.
“The spill was not a minor one, it was the response strategy that we put in place that resulted in limited impact and we have been tracing and tracking the oil slick and supervising response efforts.
“NOSDRA deployed personnel led by a director to the site and we have remained on the spill site as well as granting the requisite approvals to hasten the response.
“We have been briefing our supervising ministry on developments and so far, the spill has not hit the coastline due to the effectiveness of the spills contingency plan we used,” Musa said.
He explained that the operator of the facility took steps that made the response swift and effective adding that other oil companies under the auspices of Clean Nigeria Associate (CNA) assisted in the response.
Musa assured that the response of NOSDRA is still -on-going as the agency is determined to ensure the protection of the environment.
