5 Nigerians, a Briton die from Seplat Rig accident, 5 others missing

A British expatriate and 5 other Nigerian oil workers have reportedly died, while 5 others still missing from Seplat Energy Rig accident involving the Majestic Rig at Ogboren near Ovhor oilfield, in Sapele Local Government, Delta State.

The incident involving the Majestic rig, a newly acquired rig operated by SEPLAT/NNPCL joint venture in the early hours of Tuesday with 96 crew members capsized, and as of the time of filing this report, 6 bodies have been recovered including that of a Briton.

,,,,,,Top management staff who spoke to our correspondent anonymously said that company management is working round the clock to find other missing persons, assuring that no stone would be left unturned to track and locate other missing persons.

According to him; “as soon as we got the news of the incident, the company activated search and rescues mechanisms, and the efforts yielded great results, as we speak most of the workers are safe and getting medical attention, but sadly, we lost 6 staff, a Briton included with about 6 other workers still missing as at 8pm today,” he stated.

,,,,,,Meanwhile, the management Seplat Energy Plc in a press release signed by Mr. Roger Brown, Chief Executive Officer said that out of the 96-member crew on the rig, 92 of them are safe, however, tragically one fatality occurred during the incident, while three other rig personnel are still missing.

The four paragraphs release read: “Seplat Energy regrets to announce a serious incident on the Depthwise swamp drilling rig “Majestic” in the early hours of this morning. Seplat as the operator of the SEPLAT/NNPCL joint venture contracted the rig. It was in-transit to its planned drilling location at Ovhor in Delta State when it capsized.

“92 of the 96-member crew are accounted for and safe. However, tragically one fatality occurred during the incident, while three other rig personnel are still missing.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the crew member who sadly lost his life and the three crew members who are still missing at the time of this report. Our emergency response and rescue efforts working alongside the rig owner and the authorities have been activated and are onsite. Our utmost priority will continue to be the safety and wellbeing of all the affected personnel and their families.

“We will provide further details as our understanding of the incident develops. A detailed investigation into the cause of the accident will follow.”

Recall that Seplat Energy has a 45% working interest in OMLs 4, 38 and 41 which are located in Edo (OML 4) and Delta (OMLs 38 and 41) States onshore Nigeria.

Seplat Energy is operator of the three blocks, which together form one contract area, on behalf of the NPDC/Seplat Joint Venture.

As operator, Seplat Energy is empowered with running the day-to-day operations activities and is able to set production and operational improvement goals and lead exploration and appraisal activities, subject to the approval of its partner. Production is predominantly from seven fields, namely Amukpe, Oben, Okporhuru, Ovhor, Orogho, Sapele and Sapele Shallow, and the partners aim to bring additional fields onstream in the future.