Crew Rescued as Fire Destroys FSO Off Nigeria

 

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency is reporting that all 19 crewmembers survived a fire on a floating storage unit employed by a domestic oil company. Brittania-U released a statement saying the fire has been brought under control while thanking the Navy, Shell, and others for their assistance.

The 4,000 barrel-per-day capacity FSO was reportedly nearly 30 years old and has been in continuous operation in the Nigerian Delta State region. Brittania-U, a domestic oil company, established operations in 2017 at the former OML 90 field now known as PML 6 offshore from Warri, a city in southern Nigeria that is the hub of the oil industry.

Reports of the fire were received on July 18 by the central control station in Lagos, Nigeria. A Nigerian Navy ship, NNS Delta, was sent to the scene and when it reached the platform which was approximately 11 nautical miles from shore it was engulfed in flames with the crew calling for help. Some of the crewmembers jumped into the water to escape the flames.

 

 

Videos posted online show the crewmembers being pulled to safety aboard the Nigeria Navy vessel. They were later transferred to shore.

The field has been in production since 2010 after a government effort 20 years ago to lease 31 smaller sites to Nigerian companies. Brittania-U has a contract to sell its oil to Chevron. The oil major uses shuttle barges to transfer oil from the FSO to the export terminal.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire.