Further News on the Expert Report
Today, the Minister of Energy and Energy Industries, Mr Franklin Khan, and Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, Dr Amery Browne, hosted a media conference to discuss the updates on the FSO Nabarima.
During the conference, Mr Khan confirmed that the assessment had reported the vessel was upright with no apparent tilt. He further revealed aspects of the report indicating no issues with the main functional components of the vessel. Maintenance repairs were seen ongoing on the main deck and several pumps.
He reinforced that the risk of an oil spill from containment was minimal, however, transferral of the oil to another vessel was recommended. Concerns on the length of time that the oil transfer would take were expressed, given that the Venezuelan state company is using vessels with relatively low storage capacities. Mr Khan indicated that the transfer could take up to 35 days, and urged Venezuelan authorities to use a larger vessel to hasten the process.
As many of you are aware, it took over a month for the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to obtain permission to conduct the expert assessment of the Venezuelan FSO. While I recognise the difficulty of the diplomatic process that took place, it does not change the fact that the extended wait for inspection provided an unacceptable level of uncertainty for a matter of this scale. As stated by Minister Franklin Khan, it is difficult to invoke the provisions made in an Oil Spill Contingency plan without expert evidence. It should therefore be a priority in the future to make provisions in regional policies to facilitate swift assessments in the event of environmental threats such as these.
I would like to commend the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for taking action, however, there is still room for improvement when it comes to dealing with matters of the environment. The expert report is yet to be released for review (as should be standard practice for any scientific document used for evidence-based management) and we still have no photographic/video evidence to reinforce the report's claims. Furthermore, we have yet to hear any aspect of the report that addresses the causes of tilting seen in the photos/videos obtained by the FFOS last week, which could indicate that significant work was undertaken prior to the expert team's arrival.
In response to many inquiries, the petition will remain open until the situation is fully resolved to maintain political pressure and ensure that the issue remains a high priority. I would like to thank everyone for their support and I will continue to provide updates as things progress.