Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, has inaugurated a bi-Technical Committee made up of NOSDRA officials and those from Marine Platform Ltd. for the application of Capping Stack as a containment measure for quick response to oil spills in Nigeria.
Speaking during the inauguration of the committee in NOSDRA’s headquarters in Abuja, the Director-General of the agency, Engr. Chukwuemeka Woke, expressed his delight and gratitude about the inchoate working relationship with the firm on the use of Capping Stack.
Emphasising that NOSDRA was keen to collaborate with any responsible organisation that would add value to the agency’s mandate in oil spill management, Engr. Woke said after an intensive interaction with the team from Marine Platform Ltd, the agency was fully convinced that it had the capacity to be partnered on formulation and promotion of Capping Stack for containment of oil spill in the nation’s petroleum industry.
The Director-General added that arising from the presentation by the Director, Planning Policy Analysis and Research of NOSDRA, Dr. Shola Oladipo, it was obvious that the equipment would help reduce response time for spills in the event of occurrence.
According to him, this is pivotal because if response time is reduced, the gravity of damage would also be reduced and with that, it would also save cost, hence the agency has no option than to key into the innovative technology that would be extended to industry operators.
While revealing that the closest Capping Stack to Nigeria is in Angola and South Africa, owned by BP’s Oil Spill Service Centre and Oil Spill Response Limited, OSRL, respectively, the DG stated that it would take approximately two weeks to respond to any major spill in the country, thereby underscoring the necessity of drilling operators to demonstrate access to sub-sea stack and the requisite expertise to control of blowout well.
Engr. Woke asked the Technical Committee on Capping Stack to consider being meticulous in looking into the impact of the equipment to the environment to ensure that it does not have any negative impact on the environment and mobilize the operators in the oil and gas value chain to buy into the technology, apart from the necessity for proper sensitization of critical stakeholders in the industry.
In his earlier address on the occasion, the General Manager of Marine Platform Ltd. (Business Development and Strategy), Mr. George Chima Oduko, thanked NOSDRA for being receptive to partnering the company on the innovative idea of using Capping Stack to contain oil spills in order to preserve the environment.
In his exposition on the workings of the Capping Stack, the Director (PPAR) in NOSDRA, Dr. Oladipo, noted that the agency had to align with the Marine Platform in its hi-tech oil spill containment equipment that would be beneficial to operators in the oil and gas sector.
He explained that the equipment was a device being placed over a flowing well to stop or redirect the flow of hydrocarbons during a blowout incident. The Director highlighted the functions of the oil spill containment equipment to include shutting or isolating a well, acting as a diverter for flow back, facilitating the injection of “kill fluid” into a well bore and facilitating the monitoring of critical wellbore parameters.
