The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, (NPDC), a subsidiary of NNPC on Wednesday said it successfully extinguished a fire at Well 18T, OML 20, Egbema West in Imo in three weeks.
Mr Mansur Sambo, its Managing Director, made this known during the 2019 health, Safety and Environment week held in Benin.
Sambo noted that the fire incident in Egbema community in Imo occurred far away from NPDC oil well head, adding that the fire incident did not happen as a result of NPDC operations.
“What happened was that all the oil that was being vandalised came out of the ground. The most interesting thing is that we took care of it in record time without any fatality,” he said.
Sambo explained that it took the resilience and professionalism of NPDC personnel and professional divers from indigenous contractors to contain the inferno within three weeks.
According to him, putting out fire of that magnitude usually takes up to seven months but in this case NPDC achieved the feat in record time, in spite of the challenging environment.
The Managing director during the event pledged to continue to uphold best global acceptable safety measures in its operations.
“We need to sensitise our staff members because in the environment we operate we deal with heavy equipment.
“NPDC is the exploration and production of the upstream sector and this event is very significant being the watchdog of safety.
“All these equipment need to be handled in a globally acceptable manner. Safety is a global concern because there is no price to life and property.
According to Sambo, no matter what you are paid as insurance, you cannot recover once you lose them.
