Clumps of oil have reached Bonaire….as predicted

Date: May 27th , 2017

Dear Editor/Newsroom,

Clumps of oil have reached Bonaire ….as predicted.

As Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) had predicted, the oil clumps believed to have originated from Petrotrin’s Tank 70 which ruptured on Sunday 23rd April 2017 have washed ashore in the coastal areas of Bonaire.

The Government of Trinidad and Tobago have not acted responsibly in informing and issuing regional and public warnings to our neighbouring countries who were in the pathway of the oil clumps floating in the Caribbean Sea; sailors and fishermen.

This could have been all avoided, if our Government had acted accordingly to alert our neighboring countries of the oncoming oil.

These booms covered with oil washed ashore in Point Sable Beach, La Brea yesterday. We believe these booms resemble the same ones Petrotrin used to contain the Sunday 23rd April 2017 oil spill.

Up to now, one month later, the Honorable Franklin Khan, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries is still insisting that it was only 300 barrels that spilled and Petrotrin still remains tongue tied on this matter.

The Honorable Minister must show the reports of how much oil was in Tank 70 before and after the rupture.

Base on Tank 70 capacity of a 150,000 barrels and Minister Khan’s statement in Parliament that Tank 70 had 12,853 barrels after the leakage was contained, FFOS have estimated as much as 137,147 barrels may have escaped. Can 300 barrels really spread to 1 mile long by 5 miles wide in the Gulf of Paria, and affect Trinidad’s west coasts, Guiria in Venezuela, Margarita, Los Roques Islands and now Bonaire?

Does the maths add up?

Sincerely,
Gary Aboud
Corporate Secretary