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Bloomberg
The owners of an oil-production and storage ship had a history of financial problems before the vessel blew up in Nigerian waters two months ago.
The Trinity Spirit, which caught fire on February 2, burned for more than 24 hours and left a stain of crude stretching for miles across the Atlantic Ocean. While the cause of the accident hasn’t yet been determined, the “inferno†meant only a “low level†of crude was spilled, according to Idris Musa, director-general of Nigeria’s National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency. The Environment Ministry estimates that up to 60,000 barrels of oil were on board the ship at the time of the blaze.
The fatal incident occurred amid an ongoing trail of debt. Creditors have filed lawsuits against the company operating the ship, Nigeria-registered Shebah Exploration and Production Co, in at least three countries, accusing the firm of defaulting on multiple financial agreements.
These include two bank loans for a combined $220 million and a contract for the management of the vessel itself, according to court documents and corporate statements.
Ambrosie Bryant Orjiako, a prominent businessman and president of Shebah, acted as the personal guarantor of a $150 million loan taken by the company in mid-2012 from the African Export-Import Bank and two Nigerian lenders to fund a drilling program on the firm’s oil license. Shebah leased the vessel from one of its shareholders named Allenne Ltd, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands of which Orjiako was a director, according to court filings.