By DIANA OMUEZA

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) says its partnering with the Marine Platform Ltd. To domicile an Oil Capping Stack equipment in Nigeria.

Mr Chukwuemeka Woke, NOSDRA Director-General, said this on Wednesday in Abuja during the inauguration of a Technical Committee to oversee the installation and operation of the equipment.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that an oil capping stack is a specialised piece of equipment used to temporarily seal an oil well or other wells during a blowout, to control and prevent further oil and gas blowouts.

Woke said NOSRA, as an agency, is saddled with the responsibility of managing oil spillage in Nigeria.

He said that the domiciling of capping stack equipment in Nigeria was necessary to manage spillage.

He said that the equipment would help to reduce time wastage and cost of managing spillage.

“NOSDRA is open to any responsible government, government agencies, individuals or private companies that will add value to what we are doing in addressing oil spills.

“Having listened to the robust presentation and after proper scrutiny by our relevant technical department, we have come to a conclusion that your company has the capacity and the capability to add value to oil spill management.

“It is very obvious that this equipment will help in reducing response time, which is very key because if response time is reduced during blowouts, the gravity of damage will also reduce and it will save costs.

“So, we have no option but to buy into this equipment especially as research has shown that the closest capping stack to Nigeria is in Angola and South Africa,” he said.

Woke noted that with the equipment, oil blowouts would be easy to manage and the impact on the lives, properties and environment of host communities would be reduced.

He, however, called for the safe installation and operation of the equipment to avoid negative impacts on the environment.

The NOSDRA DG urged the oversight committee to put measures in place to ensure that the environment and people’s lives were not impacted negatively.

“One major assignment for the committee is to ensure human and environmental safety.

“Another is to mobilise the operators in the oil production value chain to buy into the usage of the equipment.

“This is because, if we get the partners to domicile this equipment here and the operators are not aware due to lack of proper mobilisation, then we have not done anything,” Woke said.

Dr Sola Oladipo, NOSDRA Director on Policy, Planning, Analysis and Research (PPRA), said that partnering the company was a proactive step toward managing oil spillages.

He urged operators and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry to synergise to use the equipment to reduce damages caused by oil spillages.

Earlier, Mr George Chima, the General Manager and Business Development Strategist of Marine Platform Ltd., said the partnership with NOSDRA had proven Nigeria’s commitment to promoting safety and also protecting the environment.

“The capping stack being domicile is also going to promote investors’ confidence in coming into the Nigerian subsea sector and increase production.

“Having a capping stack for emergency responses cannot be overemphasised due to its numerous functionalities.

“One of the major functions of the equipment is to shut or isolate a well anytime a spill happens.

“It can also act as a diverter to the flow back from the wellhead.

“It can equally facilitate the injection of key fluids into the well-ball and facilitate chemical injection and monitoring of the critical well-ball parameters,” Chima said.

He added that with the equipment, response time to spillage would be reduced to less than 48 hours.

“The environment will be protected and the marine environment preserved from pollution,” the GM said. (NAN)