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It is feared that an oil tanker owned by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA in the waters between Venezuela and the island of Trinidad will spill 1.3 million. barrels of oil.
“The ship is straight and stable, there is no visible threat of sinking,” Trinidad and Tobago Minister of Energy Franklin Khan told a news conference in Port of Spain.
The Nabarima oil tanker, which has been anchored in the Gulf of Paris for several months, is being used as an oil tank, but a video shared on October 16 by the NGO Fisherman and Friends of the Sea shows that the ship is tilted.
A group of three experts boarded the ship on Tuesday after receiving permission from the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to visit it, Khan said.
The inspection showed that “there is no visible penetration of water into the ship,” so experts concluded that the hull leak, which was reported in early September, was no longer present, the minister said.
According to F. Khan, inspectors reported that maintenance and repair work was being carried out on board, including the replacement of pumps and electric motors when necessary. According to experts, the situation in this regard is “quite satisfactory”.
Eudis Girot, head of Venezuela’s oil sector union at the time, said the 264-meter-long ship has had constant maintenance problems since 2014.
He told AFP that PDVSA had “ignored” the problems.
VIDEO: A damaged tanker threatens an ecological catastrophe: 1.3 million people could spill into the sea. oil barrels
According to Girot, several PDVSA employees reported on October 12 that the tank truck’s heel had risen to eight degrees, its engine compartment was flooded, and the water pumps were defective.
“If oil is not extracted, even if Nabarima can be stabilized, we are in constant danger of an ecological catastrophe,” Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Robert Alcala told AFP.
Nabarima is owned by Petrosucre, the majority of whose shares belong to PDVSA. Another 26 percent. its shares belong to the Italian oil and gas giant ENI.
Another Venezuelan opposition deputy, Luis Stefanelli, said that PDVSA had sent two ships to try to extract oil from Nabarima.
PDVSA began pumping oil from the tankers to the Icarus on Tuesday, the Trinidadian government said.
However, Khan recommended sending a larger ship as Icarus can only accept a quarter of the 1.3 million. barrels of oil cargo from Nabarima.
PDVSA did not comment on the situation, but the companies said last month that statements by environmentalists about Nabarima’s poor condition were “liars.”
Oil relocation efforts have been hampered by US sanctions against PDVSA.
Trinidad and Tobago developed a contingency plan to avoid damage to the environment if the Venezuelan tanker spills oil.
In Venezuela, where infrastructure is poorly maintained, oil spills are quite common.
The income of this South American country depends almost entirely on oil exports, but now Venezuela produces only 400,000 a day. barrels of oil, although a decade ago production was 3.2 million. barrels per day.
The opposition and analysts blame the situation on government corruption and negligence, and the Maduro regime says the reason is US sanctions.
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