Foreign engineers tackle well leak

THE incident command team overseeing the leak on the Couva Marine 2 well in the Gulf of Paria has been strengthened with the arrival of two senior well-control engineers from Boots & Coots Services.

The company is a leader in the global energy industry for well control services and boasts of over 40 years’ knowledge and experience in addressing the industry’s most challenging well control problems – onshore, offshore and subsea.

The team has devised another method of containing the emission which is spewing out of the ruptured well.

The well, which is approximately 4.5 nautical miles off the coast in the Orange Field area, developed a leak on July 4 and began spewing a mix of hydrocarbons, including gas and mud into the Gulf of Paria for almost a week.

The plan involves the use of booms placed in a U formation to corral the emulsified oil/wax mousse so it can be retrieved by the skimmers.

The team is also working on a plan to plug the well.

In a media release Wednesday, the Energy Ministry said the incident command team, which is based at state-owned oil company Petrotrin, had moved closer towards a solution.

It said, “Efforts are now focused on using two vessels and containment booms to corral the emulsified oil/wax mousse emitted so that they can be retrieved by skimmers. This is proving to be more successful than reliance on booms in fixed positions.”

The ministry said wildlife specialists have also been engaged to monitor the shorelines to “rescue and rehabilitate” any birds and other wildlife which may have been affected by the leak.

It also said marine and aerial exercises indicated no visible signs of pollution along the shore, while beaches at La Brea remained “free of contamination.”

The maritime advisory to marine craft operators remain in effect and the Ministry has urged seafarers to

comply with the advisory as there will be a ramping-up of activity around the site in the coming days.