Tilting oil tanker threatens an ‘environmental catastrophe’
CARACAS: Trinidad and Tobago say a damaged oil tanker off the island’s coast was “stable” after opposition politicians in neighbouring Venezuela warned of a potential “environmental catastrophe”.
The damaged tanker, which is in the waters separating Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago and is owned by Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, threatens to spill 1.3 million barrels of crude into the water.
“The ship is straight and stable without any visible risk of sinking,” Energy Minister Franklin Khan said during a video conference in Puerto Espana.
The Nabarima tanker, anchored for several months in the Gulf of Paria, is used to store oil, but video footage shared on Oct 16 by the Fisherman and Friends of the Sea NGO showed it tilting.
A team of three “experts” boarded the ship on Tuesday, the day after receiving the green light from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, Mr Khan said.
The findings showed that “there was no water ingress on the vessel visible to the team. Which means the ingress reported in early September no longer exists,” the minister said.
According to Mr Khan, the team reported that maintenance tasks were being carried out on the ship, such as repairing and replacing pumps and electric motors if necessary, which the experts described as “quite satisfactory”.
Eudis Girot, a Venezuelan oil sector union leader, said the 264-metre ship has had problems since 2014.
But he said those problems “have been ignored” by PDVSA.
Mr Girot said several PDVSA employees reported on October 12 that the tanker was listing by eight percent while the engine room is flooded and water pumps have broken down.
“If the oil is not transferred, and even if the Nabarima can be stabilised, we risk a permanent environmental catastrophe,” Venezuelan opposition legislator Robert Alcala told AFP.
The Nabarima is owned by Petrosucre, a company majority owned by PDVSA, with Italian multinational oil and gas firm Eni holding a 26% share.
According to Luis Stefanelli, an opposition legislator, PDVSA has sent two ships to try to unload the