Metro

Three persons still missing two weeks after Seplat/Depthwize rig collapse

Published

8 months ago

August 30, 2023

Three persons who were unaccounted for after an incident near Ovhor area of Delta State in which a drilling rig “Majestic” operated by Depthwize collapsed while in transit, are still missing, two weeks after the incident.

Seplat as the operator of the SEPLAT/NNPCL joint venture contracted the rig, which was in-transit to its planned drilling location before it went down.

On August 15, 2023, Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Energy Plc, Roger Brown had in a statement, stated that 92 of the 96-member crew were accounted for and safe. But that, “tragically one fatality occurred during the incident, while three other rig personnel are still missing”.

However, Ripples Nigeria reliably gathered that about 14 days after the incident, the companies involved are yet to retrieve the missing personnel from the collapsed rig, and there is no information as to wether they are dead or still alive.

Our source named the missing workers as Felix Izuchukwu, a pump man with Depthwize, Howard Slim Adikankwu, and Ogaga Ositoyibo, a driller from Port Harcourt.

“They are not really serious about the search. Because they don’t want to spend money, they’re using local divers without the needed equipment for such exercise. They don’t care about lives. They’re just waiting for the issue to fade away so they can continue with their project”, the source who craved anonymity lamented.

He continued. “If you take a close look at the companies especially Ynsnyk and Depthwize, I can bet they don’t have the legal requirements to operate in Nigeria, because if they did, there should be contingency plans in place for such incidents that are activated immediate to minimize loss of lives and property”.

Although Brown had promised that Seplat would “provide further details as our understanding of the incident develops”, and that a “detailed investigation into the cause of the accident will follow”, neither the company, nor it’s partners had provided any update since the last two weeks after the incident.

When contacted to ascertain the progress being made in the rescue search, as well as plans towards the welfare of the families of the missing rig workers, Richard Ogbechie, the personnel manager of Depthwize Nigeria Limited, refused to give any information.

He said, “I am not authorized to speak with the media. Only my Managing Director is authorized to speak with the public on this matter”.

He also refused to give out the managing director’s contact for any follow up.

Recall that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) had issued a statement soon after the incident stating that the Ill-fated rig had been operating on Nigerian waters since 2016 without the requisite approvals.

In a statement signed by NIMASA Assistant Director, Public Relations, Edward Osagie, the agency said it had dispatched a team comprising of Search and Rescue and marine accident investigation officers to the scene of the incident.

There has been no further report of the outcome of the search.

Checks revealed this was not the second time in five years that the capsized Majestic was meeting with an unfortunate incident, although the first time, luckily no lives were lost.

In May 2018, the drilling rig was engulfed in fire after it had just finished carrying out a re-completion on one of the wells on Conoil operated Ango field, located in Koluama, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. The flames burnt down significant parts of the rig, but did not affect the well, and unlike the recent accident, did not claim any lives.

The fire on the Majestic was also two years after an accident on an ExxonMobil pipeline which led to some curtailment in Depthwize’s operational activity. In mid May 2016, the “Monarch” another Depthwize owned rig, impacted the pipeline which pumped hydrocarbon fluids from Oso condensate and Usari oil fields to the ExxonMobil terminal at Qua Iboe. The damage on the pipeline was severe enough to cause a halt to a portion of ExxonMobil’s entire crude oil production.

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