Last week, we published a post on our LinkedIn page about the explosion of the Trinity Spirit in Nigerian waters, a Floating Storage and Offloading Unit (FPSO) that blew up on February 2.

The explosion was such that the ship ended up broken in two, being partly submerged in the waters.

This vessel had a capacity to store 2 million barrels of oil, in addition to producing 22,000 barrels per day.

However, despite this capacity, its use as a means of storage began to decline, due to many technical problems, which had existed for some time, as well as poor maintenance.

Apparently, the ship must have had problems in its boilers and, instead of carrying out maintenance and repair work, it was decided to continue using it as a storage unit.

In fact, it appears that at the time of the explosion, the Trinity Spirit must have been carrying between 50,000 and 60,000 barrels of oil.

In other words, it was storing approximately 3% of its capacity.

In addition, the company that managed the vessel lost its production license in 2019, so it was probably not producing oil at the time of the explosion.

To make matters worse, the FPSO not only had a serious lack of maintenance, but, in addition, it should have been operating 20 years longer than it should have with respect to its lifespan.

Moreover, at the time of the explosion, the ship had a 10-members crew.

Four days after the event, three crew members were found alive. Tragically, however, the bodies of three other members were found.

Whatever the source of ignition, the costs of poor maintenance of complex structures in industrial environments are clear.

Even more so when dealing with ATEX environments.

In summary:

• The Trinity Spirit had a service life of 10 years. It was preferred to extend it to 30 years.


• While good maintenance may seem costly in the short term, it is more costly not to do it. As an example of this, we have seen that the Trinity Spirit was only carrying 3% of its capacity, and on top of that, it was no longer able to produce oil.


• And the worst: 3 crew members died and four others are still missing.

You can't skip steps and disregard the rules because you think that "nothing will ever happen". Until it does. Until people are injured and/or killed.

There is still work to be done in creating a good safety culture, and we do not want to stand idly by.

We invite you to read the posts we wrote at the time about  explosive atmospheres, as well as the  solutions we offer to operate in them.

Do not hesitate to contact us: consulta@egamaster.com

Sources:

HAZARDex: Three crewmembers found alive four days after Nigerian FPSO explosion

REUTERS: Exploded Nigerian oil storage vessel was 'old, badly maintained' -sources

REUTERS: At least three dead after last week's Nigeria oil vessel blast, company says