. ‘Not a minor one’
About 3,000 barrels of crude oil were lost to the November 15 oil spill from the offshore Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel of TotalEnergies, the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has said.
As a result, NOSDRA insisted that: “The spill was not a minor one; it was the response strategy put in place that resulted in limited impact, and we have been tracing and tracking the oil slick and supervising response efforts.”
This revelation contradicts TotalEnergies’ claims of minimal impact, saying: “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,” thereby underscoring the need for greater transparency regarding information on such issues.
Indeed, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains that “Because they have toxic properties and produce harmful physical effects, spills of non-petroleum oils also pose threats to public health and the environment.”
While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted that Oil spills can harm sea creatures, ruin a day at the beach, and make seafood unsafe to eat. It takes sound science to clean up the oil measure the impacts of pollution, and help the ocean recover,” a major reason for the global clamour for Net Zero by 2050, and an end to hydrocarbon exploration by environmentalists.
Ahead of the COP28 global environment conference opening on Thursday, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a study published by non-profit think tank InfluenceMap, on November 16, found that top oil companies were among companies lobbying for policies that conflict with their own pledges to cut carbon emissions.
According to Reuters, “The report assessed 293 companies from the Forbes 2000 list and found that of those with a net-zero emissions or similar climate target, nearly 60% are at risk of ‘net zero greenwash’ due to their lobbying.”
The FPSO, located 130 kilometres off the Atlantic coastline from Port Harcourt, can produce 200,000 barrels of crude daily and can store 2.3 million barrels on board.
The spill was not a minor one; it was the response strategy put in place that resulted in limited impact, and we have been tracing and tracking the oil slick and supervising response efforts.
The Director-General of the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Idris Musa, told journalists on Sunday that the spill’s cleanup was still ongoing.
Mr Musa said: “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,” he said.
He explained that the agency deployed high-level personnel and activated the National Oil Spills Contingency Plan to contain the spill, adding that NOSDRA and TotalEnergies did not spare any effort in tackling the pollution to minimise its environmental impact, a development that kept the spilt crude from reaching the coastline.
“The spill has not hit the coastline because of the effectiveness of the spill’s contingency plan we deployed,” he said.
Mr Musa explained that TotalEnergies took steps that made the response swift and effective, adding that other oil companies assisted in the response.
He stressed that spill cleanup required a collaborative response from oil industry stakeholders, which, in this case, deployed aircraft and at least five vessels in the application of 15,000 litres of liquids to clean the waters. (original NAN copy, edited)
