Marabella residents protest over NiQuan blast

RESIDENTS of Silk Cotton Drive, Marabella protested at the entrance to NiQuan Energy Ltd’s gas-to-liquids plant on Thursday, reiterating their plea for dialogue with company officials after an explosion there.

On April 7, the hydrocracker system failed during an attempted startup and exploded. This led to a fire, which was contained by officers from the Mon Repos Fire Station.

Some residents said their windows shattered and TVs had fallen and said they wanted compensation. Others were traumatised and called on NiQuan to communicate with them properly .

The company’s vice-president of corporate affairs Malcolm Wells told Newsday then the company was "taking steps" to engage directly with nearby residents "with a view to assess and deal with any such claim on a case-by-case basis."

He added, "The GTL process is fundamentally safe and at no point were residents at risk during the incident. However, we understand that we cannot reasonably expect people to take that assurance at face value in light of what occurred and that we need to be proactive in providing reassurance. That is what we are doing."

But on Thursday, Hamlet told members of the media no representatives or officials from the company have contacted residents since the incident.

“We are still waiting on someone to come and tell us what is going on with this work. This work has started back and we don’t have the all-clear that it is safe.

“Workers are coming out (the compound to go) for lunch. We are seeing the work going on, we know the work is going on…We are calling on somebody to come and tell us we are safe in Marabella again.”

He added, “I might not be here to be able to talk about it again, because (what if) the next boom – and (then) it is nobody around.”

He was accompanied by three other residents, and said he did not want to breach public health regulations, which currently permit only groups of up to five people to gather publicly.

But he warned, if the silence continues, they may have no choice but to “cause chaos.

“Because like we voice is not enough…We are just respectable people just seeking we rights and we interest, and we want to know what is going on.

“We might have to come in bigger numbers and block the gate and burn fire and that is how it does go when they don’t hear. They say who don’t hear does feel.

"So we still waiting and asking kindly and if they don’t come back out, then it is going to be real chaos.”

Contacted on Thursday afternoon, Wells said, "We continue to maintain an on-site presence, but operations have not resumed.

"In terms of the ongoing investigations, we will not be issuing any update until the investigators have reported back and we have assessed their findings."

Newsday tried to contact Energy Minister Franklin Khan but all calls went unanswered.