Sabotage caused US$100,000 oil spill

A MAJOR spill involving more than 4,000 barrels of oil at a company in south Trinidad on Tuesday, may very well have been an act of sabotage. This is the view of Venture Production (Trinidad) Limited’s General Manager Dr Jim Lee Young, whose company operates the oil producing and storage facilities in Block WD 13 and WD 14 of  State-owned Petrotrin’s Forest Reserve, Fyzabad acreage. Dr Lee Young, President of the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce, made his suspicions known to reporters following a meeting of the Chamber yesterday. He said the spill, not only resulted in a loss of earnings to Venture Production but also to State-owned oil company Petrotrin, who had stood to collect “overriding royalties” on production. Dr Lee Young said estimated loss of earnings from the spill exceeded US$100,000 (TT$600,000).