PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) \u2014 The Trinidad and Tobago government Thursday expressed satisfaction with a report by a team of its own experts that had found that the Venezuelan oil storage vessel, the FSO Nabarima, was not tilting in the Gulf of Paria as had been reported earlier.<\/p>\n
Energy and Energy Industries Minister Frankling Khan, speaking at a virtual news conference here, said that the local team of experts on Wednesday boarded the vessel, which is anchored in Venezuelan territorial waters, and had submitted its report to the authorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very pleased, so too the Government of Trinidad and Tobago through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that the report of the technical team has put a relatively positive perspective of what is transpiring out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the nation has been very (anxious) and quite concerned and with just cause because an environmental disaster of the scale that was envisaged obviously would have hurt Trinidad and Tobago significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khan said that the results of the team have indicated that \u201ca genuine risk of that nature does not exist.<\/p>\n
“However, we will continue to be vigilant in our communication with Venezuelan authorities to make sure that the situation as we currently see it as of now and onwards, that they continue to monitor it in a very diplomatic way to make sure that nothing ontowards accrues between the offloading of the vessel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a matter under the jurisdiction of a sovereign State. We are a friendly neighbour with concerns, and I think we have been treated with respect and I expect Trinidad and Tobago also treats the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela with due respect,\u201d said Khan.<\/p>\n
Caribbean Community (Caricom) and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Emery Browne had said earlier in advance of receiving the report, that Port of Spain has been in communication with the Guyana-based Caricom Secretary General, Irwin la Rocque and the Trinidad and Tobago-based Association of Caribbean States (ACS).<\/p>\n
Barbados and Guyana have already said they were monitoring the situation.<\/p>\n
Khan told reporters that the Trinidad and Tobago team had been met at the Cabinet level on their arrival on the FSO Nabarima and that they had been able to do a fly over before landing so as to ensure that the vessel was not tilting.<\/p>\n
Khan said that the Venezuelans had been \u201cupfront\u201d with Port of Spain, reporting in September incidents that had occurred on the vessel, but that Caracas had also maintained that the situation had been properly rectified.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll in all, the team is very satisfied that the vessel has no tilt. The vessel was not taking in water and all the operating systems were functioning at a level that was acceptable,\u201d Khan said, noting that in their report the experts had also concluded that the FSO Nabarima is upright and stable with no visible tilt and there is no imminent risk of it tilting, or sinking at this time\u201d.<\/p>\n