The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

RECOVERY efforts to contain the oil spill at Equinor's facility in Grand Bahama are now "in full swing," Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira said yesterday.

"The relief boat has arrived in Grand Bahama. The clean-up crew has arrived. They have dispatched aerial footage. They've done structural tests on the sounders… but bear in mind as I've said in the first instance, that the roofs blew off and so you had oil that was wind-driven so you had large smear and that is challenging in and by itself," he said.

Speaking to reporters outside Cabinet yesterday, Mr Ferreira said the company's top priority is to stabilise the location by preventing the oil from spreading further in the affected areas.

Speaking on the same topic, Finance Minister Peter Turnquest said Equinor, which has received help from local and international experts to assist with the clean-up process, appears to be doing "all they can" to rectify the situation.

"I can say that they've indicated that there is no spill on the south shore nor have they detected it on the north shore, but they continue to monitor and do surveillance and they're also testing for water contamination as well as air contamination," the East Grand Bahama MP said.

"They are being responsive and providing information certainly to the government and to the BEST Commission, the Ministry of Environment but also to me as a member of Parliament and so far, I'm satisfied but obviously people won't be satisfied until it's all cleaned up."

After Hurricane Dorian pummeled the northern Bahamas earlier this month, reports emerged of an oil spill from Equinor's South Riding Point storage facility in Grand Bahama.

Last week, Equinor said oil was spotted in the ocean near Abaco and may have affected parts of the coastline. At the time, Equinor said the source of the oil near Little Abaco Island was unknown. However, the company said it would investigate the matter.

In a more recent statement, Equinor said clean up of the oil spill is underway.

"It is still Equinor's assessment that no oil is leaking from the terminal," according to the company this week. "An area with suspected oil spill in open water has now been confirmed to be a patch of seaweed. Another area with potential product 70-80 kilometres north east of the terminal on the other side of the island has been observed from air and results are being processed. Currently, there are no indications that the terminal is the source for this."