What happened

The aging Trinity Spirit floating production, storage and offloading vessel exploded and caught fire at the Ukpokiti terminal before breaking apart and sinking. Ten workers were aboard: three survived, five bodies were recovered and two workers remained missing and were presumed dead. Nigeria's environmental authorities said the vessel carried at least about 40,000 barrels of crude when it sank; satellite imagery showed oil sheens extending from the wreck for days, although the total amount released was never conclusively quantified. The FPSO could once process 22,000 barrels per day and store up to two million barrels, but the field was not producing at the time and the regulator had revoked its licence in 2019. A later Associated Press investigation documented years of severe maintenance and safety deterioration; Nigerian authorities had not published a conclusive cause. The incident occurred on 2 February, while several early follow-up reports were published on 4 February.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.