Nigerian oil and gas company Renaissance Africa has denied reports of a gas explosion on Sunday (March 23) at its gas plant in Rivers State, at the Soku Gas Pipeline that it operates.

“We wish to categorically state that there was no gas explosion or fire incident at our Soku facility,” said Bamidele Odugbesan, communications manager at Renaissance, as quoted by BusinessDay. “Our operations are ongoing without any disruption, and all safety protocols remain in place.”

As of the morning of March 24, the Rivers State Government had yet to issue an official statement on the matter.

Witness Alasia, the general secretary of the community, said that a fire had broken out along the Soku-Abua-Rumuji gas pipeline right of way but noted that the cause remains undetermined, according to BusinessDay.

This comes less than a week after Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu declared a state of emergency in Rivers State a few hours after on March 18 he summoned an emergency meeting with his service chiefs and the inspector-general of police at the Aso Rock presidential villa following explosions at two crude oil pipelines in the region.

According to local media, that first explosion affected a section of the Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP) in Bodo community in the Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The 180,000-barrels per day (bpd), 60km TNP is a federal transport line that carries crude to Nigeria’s Bonny terminal in Rivers State from where the Bonny Light grade is exported.

The TNP was operated until March 14 by Shell (UK) subsidiary Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).