Venezuelans to collect oil sample

Energy Minister Franklin Khan, speaking in the Senate on May 2, said a team comprising officials from his ministry, Petrotrin, the Environmental Management Authority and Coast Guard will visit the affected areas in Guiria, “to get first-hand knowledge of the level of contamination existing there.”

However, an email from the IMA noted that although the TT team was given Cabinet approval to go to Venezuela, “information from the Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs states that the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela indicated that only one representative from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries could be accommodated.”

“So it was decided that the Venezuelans were to collect the samples based on the protocol sent by Trinidad for fingerprinting analysis by IMA,” the IMA stated. The IMA also responded to a query whether an oil spill emanating from Pointe-a-Pierre could reach the Venezuelan coastline, stating this is possible given the “general circulation pattern” of the current in the Gulf of Paria.