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 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 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.

He added 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 NOSDRA deployed high-level personnel and activated the National Oil Spills Contingency Plan to contain the spill.

“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.

“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.

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.

(NAN)