Potential Oil Spill in Caribbean

[Stevicus]

80 million gallons of oil, larger than Exxon spill, dangerously close to pouring into Caribbean

The U.S. embassy in Trinidad and Tobago has urged "immediate actions" to prevent a potentially catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Paria, off the coast of Venezuela, where a floating storage and offloading facility is reportedly undergoing repairs.

The Venezuelan-flagged Nabarima vessel has been sat idle off the Venezuelan coast since January 2019. Pictures recently emerged showing the FSO vessel floating at an incline, raising fears that it could spill its load into the gulf devastating the regional fishing industry and delicate ecosystems.

The Nabarima is operated by the Petrosucre company, a joint venture between the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and the Italian Eni oil giant.

This article said that the ship was carrying 80,000,000 gallons of oil, but another source said 55,000,000 and yet another said 60,000,000. For comparison, the Exxon Valdez oil spill was 10,800,000 gallons.

It's stuck there due to sanctions imposed on Venezuela.

Petrosucre froze oil extraction in January 2019 after being sanctioned by President Donald Trump's administration, leaving 1.3 million barrels of crude oil, some 80 million gallons, aboard the Nabarima.

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The infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill—widely considered the worst in history by the amount of environmental damage done—involved around 10.8 million gallons of crude.

Fishermen Warn Venezuelan Tanker Containing 60,000,000 Gallons Of Oil Is Sinking

Gary Aboud, corporate secretary for Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, told Reuters, ‘If this thing flips we will all pay the consequences for decades to come. This should be red alert.’

While a source close to the matter told the outlet the vessel is undergoing repairs, hence the need for the slant, Aboud said in a video, ‘No one is doing anything,’ before calling on Trinidad and Tobago’s government to ‘wake up and do something’.

There may be companies willing to pump the oil off the tanker, but they're thwarted by the sanctions, so the ship remains in limbo.

Damaged Venezuelan oil tanker drawing international concern

The oil workers union is blaming Maduro.

However, anti-government oil workers like Eudis Girot, head of the Unitary Federation of Petroleum Workers of Venezuela, has launched a campaign seeking to get President Nicolás Maduro to pay attention. He is urging the embattled leader 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.”

Critics of Venezuela’s collapsing state-run oil firm PDVSA say the double-hulled tanker — built in 2005 for ConocoPhillips by South Korea's Samsung — is just one example of the socialist government’s corruption and mismanagement that has bankrupted the nation's petroleum industry that once made Venezuela wealthy.

“That ship should not be in this shape except for neglect and stupidity,” said Russ Dallen, head of Caracas Capital Markets, who closely tracks Venezuela’s maritime industry.

An industry executive, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said the lack of maintenance appeared to have damaged valves in the ballast system used to stabilize the ship.

Today it dangerously leans more than 5 degrees on its right side, the executive said. Shipping tracking data shows that it has also sunk 14.5 meters (47.57 feet), right at the waterline, a sign of excess weight.

 

[MNoBody]

more chaos, again, people are unwilling to learn and evolve.....hmmmm sense a darwin award being handed out yet again

 

[Windwalker]

Oh my god. Is this going to be another Beirut-level catastrophe?

Apparently they plan to off-load the oil. One would hope they do!

 

[Debater Slayer]

It will be a joyous day for this planet when or if renewable energy undermines the profits and reach of oil mega-corporations. They're like a metastasizing ecological cancer.

 

[Brickjectivity]

This was caused by...sanctions? Socialism? Maduro himself? Incompetence and tomfoolery? That's four fingers, but I still have a thumb. What's left to point at?

Don't answer. Lets wait until US elections are over to get into conversations about political systems.

 

[rocala]

I hope and pray that this will not lead to the massive pollution that we have seen in the past.
Forget the politics, forget the money PLEASE DO SOMETHING.

 

[Stevicus]

This was caused by...sanctions? Socialism? Maduro himself? Incompetence and tomfoolery? That's four fingers, but I still have a thumb. What's left to point at?

Don't answer. Lets wait until US elections are over to get into conversations about political systems.

I'm not entirely sure. The oil workers are blaming Maduro, although it also seems that the problem is due to the sanctions. That is, there were countries which had companies willing to help deal with the troubled tanker, but they're afraid of violating the sanctions. So, there it sits.

But they should consider making an exception in this case, at least to pump the oil from the tanker and lessen the chance of a spill. They can just tow the boat back to Venezuela once it's empty.

 

[Stevicus]

Officials: 'Minimal' risk Venezuela oil tanker will sink

CARACAS, Venezuela -- A damaged Venezuelan oil tanker recently tilting to one side in the Caribbean after taking on water poses no significant risk of spilling and causing an environmental catastrophe, officials of Trinidad & Tobago said Thursday.

Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Franklin Khan said a team of experts from his country inspected the FSO Nabarima on Tuesday, allaying previous fears it was on the brink of sinking and spewing 1.3 million barrels of oil.

At the urging of environmental groups, oil worker unions and fishing communities on the surrounding coasts, officials in Trinidad asked Venezuelan officials to let them go on board to independently inspect the ship.

Khan said a Trinidadian technical team did an aerial inspection from a Venezuelan helicopter showing that the tanker was floating upright with no tilt. Upon landing, they found no water inside and the double hulls were sound, Khan said.

The Nabarima is part of a fleet owned by Petrosucre, a joint venture run by Venezuela's state-owned oil firm PDVSA and a minority partnership with the Italian oil firm Eni.