– owners start offloading cargo

TRINIDAD and Tobago authorities have determined that the Venezuela oil tanker, sinking in the Gulf of Paria, presents minimal risk of an oil spill, considering the remedial work being conducted by the owners of the vessel.

It was reported that the tanker, called the floating storage and offloading (FSO) Nabarima, was abandoned more than 20 months ago, following tightened U.S. sanctions.
A report from the Miami Herald had stated that while Nabarima is flying under a Venezuelan flag, it is operated by the Petrosucre Company, a joint venture between the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, PDVSA and the Italian oil giant, Eni.

After the Trump administration imposed sanctions on PDVSA in January 2019, Petrosucre stopped its oil extraction and the ship was left off the eastern coast of Venezuela/northern cost of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Guardian Newspaper has since reported that the Venezuelans and PDVSA have started to offload the vessel, which has 1.3 million barrels of oil. This started on Tuesday with the arrival of PDVSA’s Aframax ship, Icaro – a much smaller vessel than Nabarima.

With recent photos showing the vessel dangerously tilting to the side, concerns raised over its possible capsizing have been growing.
But Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy Minister, Franklin Khan, was reported as saying: “the FSO Nabarima is upright and stable with no visible tilt and there is no imminent risk of tilting or sinking.”

He said that a three-man team from Trinidad and Tobago, that assessed the situation, reported that major maintenance was ongoing on the vessel, with pumps and electrical motors being repaired and replaced as needed. The team’s report stated the maintenance programme as being “quite satisfactory.”
It was recommended, however, that the transfer of oil from the vessel be done by a much larger vessel which will reduce the offload time and logistics of the transfer.
The local Civil Defence Commission (CDC) has assured that it will continue to liaise with its local, regional and international counterparts to ensure the situation is adequately monitored and that Guyana is faced with no threats.