Minor oil leak in Barrackpore

A damaged pipeline reportedly belonging to Heritage Petroleum (formerly Petrotrin) in Barrackpore caused an oil leak on Sunday morning.

Up to Sunday afternoon, officials from the state-owned company did not give a statement on the issue. However, when Newsday visited the site in an area called Lawrence Hill, which falls within Digity and Sadhu Villages, workmen were cleaning up. They declined to comment on the operations.

Barrackpore West councillor, Nicholas Kanhai, told Newsday that the oil spill had been contained and there were no reports of damage.

"I got the call around mid-morning and went down. A line was damaged, and a contractor came and contained it. For me, it was not a major concern because residents were not affected. It did not destroy crops or livestock," Kanhai said.

The leak happened near a drain off Digity Trace that passes under Wilson Road and leads to the South Oropouche river.

"It reached about 20 feet into the river. The watercourse still has some grass, so that prevented the oil from spreading faster."