PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The state-owned oil company, PETROTRIN, today confirmed that there were about 11 oil spills in the south of the country, but indicated that at least two of them had been the work of saboteurs.
PETROTRIN chairman, Lindsay Gillette, told a news conference that in the two cases, special pieces of equipment were needed in order to have the oil flow from the tanks.
He told reporters that there was “strong evidence” to show “willful acts of sabotage” insisting that the facilities were “deliberately tampered with”.
He said the two facilities in question do not support “any sort of negligence at all”.
He said one of the facilities, run by Trinity Exploration Production, a joint venture partner with PETROTRIN, “two of the plugs were removed and you would a very large wrench to remove that plug physically for that oil to flow”.
He said in the other incident, “you could actually see the oil squirting from the sides of one of the flanges”.
Gillette said given the importance of the oil company to the socio-economic development of Trinidad and Tobago “these incidents must not be taken lightly.
“We will do all in our power to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice,” he said, adding that security was now being provided by the company as well as police and members of the Defence Force.
“We are continuing our investigations. As you would recognize it has been two weeks and we have had 11 oil spills…and our investigations are continuing,” he said, adding “we run PETROTRIN to international standards.
“As respect to security we are doing joint patrols with the police and Defence Force and we are also beefing up our security to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of this, but then again it is very difficult to guard against these cats”.
PETROTRIN president Khalid Hassanali said that the company was dealing with the oil spills in a “structured way” adding “we are on top of the situation”.
