Explosion hits gas facility in Rivers community

An explosion has been reported at Soku gas pipeline along the Soku-Elok (Abua)-Rumuji-Bonny export terminal in Rivers state.

Confirming the development, Christian Otiasah, an environmental manager in Soku community, said the explosion triggered a fire that began late Saturday night.

Although the cause of the explosion remains unknown at the time of reporting, Otiasah said the incident occurred between 10 pm and 11 pm on March 22.

“There was an explosion and there was an attendant fire. The fire has been put off. It was put off because the Soku gas plant is automated such that depending on the impact, it can shut down itself,” he said.

“In other words, it can also isolate affected lines and starve off that line. If you starve the source of oxygen, the fire will naturally go off.

“The explosion actually occurred along the delivery gas line, not in the gas plant.”

The incident comes almost a week after an explosion ruptured a segment of the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP) in Bodo community, Gokana local government area (LGA) of the state.

The TNP, a critical federal oil transport line, feeds crude to the Bonny export terminal in Rivers.

Now under the control of Renaissance, the TNP was formerly operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC).

The explosion had led to a temporary shutdown and raised concerns about potential environmental damage and oil supply disruption from the facility.

On March 19, Tony Okonedo, Renaissance Group’s spokesperson, told TheCable that operations have resumed at the facility following a “third-party intervention”.