Port Harcourt, March 24 (AGCNewsNet) – A gas pipeline explosion occurred late Saturday night along the Soku-Elok (Abua)-Rumuji-Bonny export terminal in Rivers State, triggering a fire before an automated shutdown contained the incident.

Christian Otiasah, an environmental manager in Soku, confirmed that the explosion took place between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on March 22.

"There was an explosion, and a fire followed, but it has been put out," Otiasah said. "The Soku gas plant is automated to isolate affected lines and shut down operations in such cases, which helped prevent further damage."

The blast occurred on a delivery gas line rather than within the plant itself.

This marks the second major explosion in Rivers State within a week, following the March 16 rupture of the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP) in Bodo, Gokana LGA. The TNP, which transports crude to the Bonny export terminal, was previously operated by Shell but is now under Renaissance Group.

That incident led to a temporary shutdown before operations resumed on March 19, according to Renaissance spokesperson Tony Okonedo.

Authorities are yet to determine the cause of the latest explosion.

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