Reports last night indicated that Trinmar, the marine division of state-owned Petrotrin, suffered an undersea well blowout that was leaking oil into the sea off the south-west coast of Trinidad. Efforts to contact Petrotrin chief executive Kenneth Allum and the company's public relations officer, Gillian Friday, proved futile up to press time.
Petrotrin executive Khalid Hassanali, however, confirmed last night that Trinmar was experiencing a "problem" but that the company was dealing with it. Petrotrin has reported oil spills from onshore pipelines in August 2010 at Woodlands, February 2008, also at Woodlands and in December 2007 in San Francique.
Petrotrin produces about 50,000 barrels of oil per day most of which is exported. The company has struggling to complete its costly and delayed Gasolene Optimisation Programme (GOP), which increased from the conceptual cost of US$350 million in 2003 to US$1.3 billion in 2009.