(Trinidad Express) Carelessness and negligence on the part of some Petrotrin employees are the reasons why the company lost more than 7,000 barrels of oil last year.
For this reason, the State oil company yesterday fired six senior employees.
Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali said it brought no joy to the company to serve the employees with letters of termination.
He was speaking to reporters during a press conference at Petrotrin’s Learning Resource Centre in Pointe-a-Pierre on Saturday.
The conference was to disclose the findings of Petrotrin’s investigation into the oil spills that affected hundreds along the southwestern coastline since last December.
He said the investigation conducted by six Petrotrin employees including a member from the Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU) was completed on Friday evening.
Initially, Petrotrin reported there were 11 incidents of oil spills from December 17 to 29.
Four of these leaks were related to companies that have joint ventures with Petrotrin—Trinity Exploration and Production Company and Neal and Massy Energy Resources Ltd.
The company initially reported that a weld leak developed on the No 10 Sea Line at the Petrotrin Pointe-a-Pierre port during fuel oil bunkers loading operations for the barge Marabella on December 17.
In one of its earlier press releases, Petrotrin stated: “The cause was identified to be a failed chain support not apparently defective during previous routine inspections.”
Oil spill response had commenced on December 18, with staging areas established on Coffee Beach, Carat Shed Beach and Point Sable Beach.
