Oil Production Vessel Explodes Off the Coast of Nigeria

I see the link (from 3 February) is to a short video capture of the ship burning and apparently with a broken back judging by the fore and aft deck angles.

Other sources give latest updates [0][2] which show of ten crew, three (or four) are known to have died, three recovered but their health unclear, and four (or three) still unaccounted for. The vessel spit in two and partially sank. Some information suggests it was operating in shallow water (~30m) in the Niger river delta.

The vessel is the FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) unit Trinity Spirit [1], a single hull VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) built in 1976 and converted to a FPSO in 1997, operated by SEPCO (Shebah Exploration and Production COmpany) Limited, a Nigerian business apparently currently in administration.

According to some reports [2] SEPCO, or this specific vessel, lost its production license in 2019 and was only storing approximately 60,000 of its 2,000,000 barrel capacity. It is over 30 years old, operating 20 years beyond its design life with reports stating it was poorly maintained.

[0] https://shipsandports.com.ng/sepcol-vessel-explosion-death-t...

[1] http://marinelike.com/en/vessels/7370325-trinity_spirit.html

[2] https://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article/189306/Three-crewme...