Two still missing in Chevron oil rig fire

Two workers are still missing after fire broke out on a drilling rig in Chevron’s Funiwa oil facility in Nigeria.

The fire, which broke out on Monday, according to a report by Reuters, was yet to be put out as at press time on Tuesday.

The company in a statement said 152 out of the 154 workers on the rig as at the time the fire broke out had been rescued.

Chevron’s spokesman, Scott Walker, said: “Search and rescue has successfully found 152 of 154 personnel. We expect all of those rescued to be onshore and checked medically. The fire is still burning. Early well control activation is ongoing.”

Reuters reported that Nigerians in the area reported a loud explosion on the rig early on Monday.

 “I heard a really loud bang and there was a fire,” a chief in the village, Young Fabby, 55, told Reuters on the telephone. Walker earlier said Chevron was “still investigating the incident and … working to fully understand what happened.”

He said the fire broke out on the K.S. Endeavor jack-up rig.

There was some “sheen around the well that is being investigated,” he said.