Oil Stops Leaking from Capsized Barge Off Tobago

The leakage from an overturned barge close to the Caribbean island of Tobago has ceased.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago has announced efforts to salvage the submerged barge following the spill, which persisted for a month and extended several hundred kilometers westward through the Caribbean.

Prime Minister Keith Rowley earlier this week conveyed that the government is still gathering necessary details to ascertain the ownership of the Solo Creed tug and Gulfstream barge, which were implicated in the oil spill on February 7.

Rowley remarked, "To date, while there have been documents and information pointing to connections with the vessel, definitive confirmation of ownership remains elusive to the government's satisfaction."

An investigative report earlier this month by Bellingcat and the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian attributed the spill to a company registered in Panama named Melaj Offshore.

As per Bellingcat, a Dutch investigative journalism organization, and the ship registration records from the Zanzibar Maritime Authority, the Tanzania-registered, 1976-constructed tug Solo Creed that towed the Gulfstream barge on its ill-fated journey was owned by Melissa Rona Gonzalez, an officer of Melaj Offshore Corporation.

The authority has verified that the tug's registration covered the duration from its departure on December 30, 2023, until its disassociation from the Gulfstream barge around February 6. The registration expired on February 29.

Panama's corporate registry lists Gonzalez as an executive of Melaj Offshore, with her husband, Augustine Jackson, holding the company's power of attorney.

The tug and barge are known for transporting Venezuelan oil. On its last voyage, the barge was transporting approximately 35,000 barrels of oil intended for Guyana but encountered troubles en route.

Following the capsize of the 48-year-old barge off Tobago's coast, the resulting oil slick spread several hundred kilometers west, impacting the east coast of the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire and subsequently reaching Aruba and Grenada