Press Release:– The National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO) Oil Spills Committee is carefully monitoring the situation with the Venezuelan oil tanker with 1.3 million barrels of crude oil which is now inclined to one side off an isolated section of Venezuela’s coast in the Gulf of Paria.
The floating ship —NABARIMA —has reportedly been anchored off the Venezuelan coast as of January 2019 following the sanctioning of the ship’s management by the United States of America.
The ship in question is operated by both a Venezuelan and Italian Company.
In recent times the ship has started taking in water and the incline has noticeably increased, thus raising more regional concerns for a potentially large and impactful oil spill.
Presently, the two countries mostly at risks are the neighbouring Venezuela and the Trinidad and Tobago coastlines.
Nevertheless, in the regional context, the Caribbean Basin can be negatively impacted by such a large volume of crude oil.
The NEMO office as the regional protocol dictates is in contact with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Authority (CDEMA) to carefully observe the potential threat and will inform the public of any meaningful new developments.
The unknown factor remains the unwelcomed news of any adverse weather system which can further destabilize the ship and produce winds and currents, which may carry the oils further across the Caribbean Sea.
According to the Chairman of the National Oil Spills Committee (Mr. Christopher Alexander) “If the existing threat grows, Saint Lucia’s National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCP) will be triggered and the respective committee will be detailed to evaluate additional risks to the state and in keeping with established protocols draw up mitigation measures to protect the coastline and the marine environment. The Police Marine Unit would be the main responding agency at sea and the Fire Service will support with shoreline clean-up.”
Saint Lucia has signed onto all the Marine Pollution Conventions and continues to work diligently to promulgate these into national legislation to enhance enforcement and monitoring of pollution from ships to protect the islands’ coastline.
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