PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, May 13, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government Wednesday said that there is no policy requiring the Ministry of Energy to issue public statements on small oil spills, as Port of Spain defended its handling of an offshore oil spill that became public only after Venezuela issued a statement over the last weekend.
Energy and Energy Industries Minister, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, responding to a question from his predecessor Stuart Young in Parliament, said that “ there is no policy or protocol for the Ministry of Energy to issue a public advisory or a press release in dealing with small spills”.
He said that the May 1 incident was classified as a “tier one” spill and considered minor.
“The oil spill in question of May 1 is deemed, and was deemed to be a small spill for tier one,” Moonilal said, adding there was no established policy or protocol requiring the Ministry to issue public advisories or press releases in such cases.
Moonilal said that between 2019 to 2021, a reference to when Young served as energy minister, “there were 76 small spills, of which the Ministry of Energy never issued one press release”.
Moonilal acknowledged that the ministry only issued a statement after Caracas circulated a communiqué through diplomatic channels on May 9.
“Upon receipts, Saturday May 9, in the late evening of a communiqué allegedly issued by the Republic of Venezuela, within hours the Ministry of Energy issued a statement,” Monilall said, adding that the Venezuelan communiqué had been transmitted through diplomatic channels and not directly to Trinidad and Tobago’s Energy Ministry.
“On the very night of May 9, our statement from the Ministry of Energy was sent to His Excellency, Ambassador of Venezuela in Port of Spain,” Moonilal said.
Venezuela had complained to the international community that the spill had caused environmental damage in the Gulf of Paria and along coastal areas of Sucre and Delta Amacuro.
“Evaluations carried out by Venezuelan authorities show severe risks to mangroves, wetlands, marine fauna and strategic hydrobiological resources for food security and the ecological balance of the region. Likewise, impacts have been recorded on vulnerable species and ecosystems of high environmental sensitivity,” Venezuela said in its statement.
The South American country said that it had instructed its Foreign Ministry to immediately request all pertinent information regarding the incident, as well as the corresponding action plan for the mitigation and containment of the spill, as it also demanded “compliance with the obligations established in international environmental law and the urgent adoption of reparation measures for the damage caused”.
But in its statement, the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries (MEEI) said that the oil spill detected in the Main Field on May1, was stopped on the same day, repaired and returned to service the following day.
CMC/gh/ir/2026