Petrotrin cleaning oil spill in South Trinidad

Contractors have started cleaning up the Oropouche lagoon which has been contaminated by an oil spill from an 18-inch pipeline owned by state-owned Petrotrin.

The company has stated initially that the spill was not from its line.

Workers are using vacuum trucks to suck crude oil out of the river. They told the Trinidad Guardian that they are taking the oil to Petrotrin’s Forest Reserve operations.

The leak developed several weeks ago and the heavy rains carried the crude into the lagoon from where it has continued to spread, affecting farmlands and and might have already reached fishing grounds in the Gulf of Paria.

For now, workers are engaged only in the cleanup. They told the Guardian because of the floods they cannot reach the ruptured line to repair it.