Fishermen and Friends concerned about residents’ safety

Fishermen and Friends of the Sea secretary Gary Aboud has questioned whether communities living within the five-nautical-mile exclusion zone around the ruptured Couva Marine 2 well will have to be evacuated.

He said, “There is a five-mile protected zone. That would mean for a half-mile from the coastline you would have to evacuate businesses and residents, because in the month of August and in July, the winds turn westward. It would blow the oily substance onshore. It also means that the gas would blow onshore and there would be a critical risk to the public who may strike a match or may start an engine or turn on a light switch, and that could be catastrophic.”

The well is approximately 4.5 nautical miles off the coast in the Orange Field area.

Aboud also alleged that the Ministry of Energy was unable to locate the “well file” on the ruptured well and this was why it was unable to cap the well, which began spewing a mix of hydrocarbons and mud almost a week ago.

“The Ministry of Energy cannot find the well file for that and it contains all the data that is there, and so the catastrophe we are experiencing can only be resolved if we can find that well file.

He said the ministry must take responsibility and “The minster must come forward and let us know whether the ministry can find any of the files of any of the wells, because there is a likelihood that over time, other wells would also rupture, sometimes accidentally, because it might have an earth movement, where you would have a shift in the plates, and you have an excessive amount of pressure coming to bear on the old well.”

Aboud said the ministry was also avoiding the issue of contamination, as the hydrocarbon materials being spewed into the Gulf of Paria would circulate throughout the entire region, given the clockwise movement of water in the gulf.

He also wondered why the area around the ruptured well had not been “boomed” to prevent the gulf being contaminated by persistent organic pollutants if they were present in the hydrocarbon emissions.

However, the Energy Ministry said, “While plans are being developed to control the well, booms have been installed at the well site to contain the wax-like substance emitted from the well. “The material is then being retrieved with skimmers.”

The ministry also said permanent secretary Penelope Bradshaw-Niles and ministry officers had attended meetings of the incident command team established to deal with the incident.