Alarm over damaged Venezuelan oil tanker in Gulf of Paria

Concerns are growing over the damaged Venezuelan floating storage offloading unit (FSO) in the Gulf of Paria which environmentalists fear may unleash irreversible consequences to the ecosystems of TT, Venezuela and other neighbouring countries.

"At this time two Venezuelan vessels are on the way to the FSO Nabarima," said the NGO Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) in a post on its Facebook page on Wednesday shortly after 4 pm.

"The Nabarima is taking in water and listing starboard and is at risk of capsizing and spilling 1.3 million barrels (of oil) into our Gulf of Paria marine food basket."

Last week, FFSO corporate secretary Gary Aboud wrote to the US ambassador to TT, Joseph Mondello, asking him to use his "good office to place pressure" on the Government to act urgently and address the imminent threat."

Siparia Regional Corporation chairman Dinesh Sankersingh, spoke briefly with Newsday yesterday, saying if a disaster strikes the southwestern peninsula of Trinidad would be hit the hardest, given its proximity to Venezuela. Sankersingh promised to make a statement on Thursday.

This week, the Energy Ministry said it is closely monitoring the situation, and there is a bilateral oil spill contingency plan between TT and Venezuela.

A recent AP report said the vessel is leaning to one side off a remote stretch of Venezuela's coast.

After years of neglect, the FSO Nabarima, a rusting hulk full of thick crude, is in a dangerous state of disrepair.

The full extent of the damage is unknown. But if it is not repaired soon it could sink and spell environmental disaster, polluting the seas along the vast coastline of Venezuela and several neighbouring Caribbean nations, government critics and maritime experts say.

The report said Venezuela's socialist government has said nothing publicly about its plans for the container.

However, anti-government oil workers like Eudis Girot, head of the Unitary Federation of Petroleum Workers of Venezuela, have launched a campaign to get president Nicolás Maduro to pay attention. He urged him to look beyond years of bitter disputes between his government and the oil workers union to head off a potential environmental disaster.

"I invited you, Mr President. Take a helicopter. Go out there. Do your own inspection," Girot said in an online video in recent days. He has also posted three photos of what he said is the ship's flooded engine room. "By God, I hope I am wrong."

The Venezuelan-flagged Nabarima is a 866-foot-long ship believed to be almost full of 1.4 million barrels of crude — about five times the amount the Exxon Valdez spilled in 1989.

The AP report said it was used as a stationary platform anchored in the Gulf of Paria to help export the OPEC nation's oil. But it has fallen inactive with the recent plunge in global energy demand due to the coronavirus pandemic and US sanctions on Maduro’s government that have scared away potential buyers of the country's heavy crude.

A potential spill in the shallow inland sea that Venezuela shares with TT could damage fragile mangroves, fisheries and bird sanctuaries. The situation has raised the alarm in TT and the nearby Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, AP reported.