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The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) on Wednesday confirmed the collapse of the Seplat Energy drilling rig.
Seplat Energy had on Tuesday announced that one person died and three others were missing as its drilling rig collapsed in Delta State.
Roger Brown, the company’s chief executive officer, said the incident involving its Majestic rig occurred near Ovhor, Delta State, in the early hours of Tuesday.
The NUPRC, confirming the incident in a statement signed by its management on Wednesday night, said Seplat Energy Plc has formally notified the agency of the incident involving the drilling rig during its operation at a swamp location in Delta State.
It said the Depthwize Majestic rig was contracted by Seplat Energy Plc to drill Ovhor-21 well at a swamp location in Delta State.
The commission explained that the rig completed the drilling of Gbetiokun-11 for NEPL and was demobilised on Wednesday, 9 August.
Thereafter, it said the rig commenced rig-move from Gbetiokun-11 well location to the planned Ovhor – 21 well location. Unfortunately, it said the rig capsized while in transit and was partially submerged at about 5.00 a.m. on Tuesday, 15 August.
“Information from our Warri regional office confirmed that search and rescue operations of Personnel on Board (POB) on the rig have commenced and it’s ongoing,” the NUPRC said.
It said Seplat Energy has also submitted incident notification form 41 to the commission as statutorily required and commenced a preliminary and detailed investigation of the incident.
“Out of the ninety-six (96) personnel on board at the time of the incident, ninety-two (92) have been rescued, one (1) confirmed dead, and three (3) are yet to be accounted for,” it said.
However, the commission said divers had been mobilised to the incident location for search and rescue operations, while the rescued personnel are currently receiving medical attention at the company’s hospital.
“The commission will continue to update the public on the detailed outcome of the investigations as more information becomes available,” it said.
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