The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Activists are urging the Government to ensure all environmental and financial liabilities stemming from the Dorian-related oil spill at South Riding Point are properly addressed in the approval for the facility’s potential sale.

Joseph Darville, Save the Bays executive chairman, told Tribune Business the Davis administration must “make sure the clean-up is done properly and we’re compensated for the damage” as sources suggested Equinor is close to exiting its ownership of the Grand Bahama oil storage facility.

Several contacts, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that the proposed purchaser is the Liwothan Group, an oil terminal and logistics headquartered in Estonia, which also has assets in London. They added that senior South Riding Point staff were already engaging with the likely new owners, who were also being introduced to the Freeport business community by the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA).

While the deal between Equinor, which is 67 percent majority-owned by the Norwegian state, and Liwothan Group is thought to essentially be sealed, it is understood to still be awaiting approval by the Government here. “I had heard it’s up for sale,” one source said of South Riding Point, “and that there were some real buyers around.”

Some 55,000 barrels of oil, around 3 percent of the total storage volume, was estimated to have been blown into the surrounding area when Hurricane Dorian’s Category Five winds destroyed the roofs of several tanks at South Riding Point.

Equinor responded by investing in clean-up and remediation at the site but, some 16 months after Dorian’s passage, a Bahamas National Trust (BNT) report in late 2021 raised concerns that there continues to be a high concentration of crude oil around the terminal that remains a threat to wildlife. Some 31 acres was said to require revegetation, with Equinor promising to respond to the BNT’s concerns.

Now, with the global energy conglomerate seemingly close to exiting South Riding Point’s ownership, questions arise as to whether itself - or Liwothan Group - will be responsible for continued clean-up and remediation, plus whether any compensation will be paid to The Bahamas and affected stakeholders, and by whom.

“We have a serious crisis in that regard,” Mr Darville told this newspaper at the weekend. “I’m just wondering who’s going to ascertain and compensate us for the damage done to the environment, as well as all the necessary clean-up that has to take place.

“We’re the only entities, Save the Bays and Waterkeepers Bahamas, who have been keeping an eye on what is going on there. They did the massive clean up of the aggregate piles, 60 feet of more of oil sludge covering the aggregate that was mined.” However, Mr Darville said dealing with other areas contaminated by the oil spill had proven more tricky because of the potential damage that would be caused in uprooting trees to get at the sludge.

“If they go off leaving it in that state, they will have to compensate the Government of The Bahamas and the people of The Bahamas for the damage that has been done,” he added of Equinor. “If we’re going to have anything to do with the sale or change in operations, then the environmental people have to be involved. We’re the only ones keeping an eagle eye on the clean-up that’s been taking place and dealing with it time and again.

“The Government...... needs to make sure that whatever clean-up is done, is done properly, and we’re compensated properly for the damage. Hopefully we will not have any further oil operations in that regard.” Mr Darville said he had been informed by persons who fabricated the tank tops at South Riding Point that they were constructed to withstand 140 mile per hours winds, not the 180-plus speeds brought by Hurricane Dorian.

“Because they were interrupted due to COVID-19 and other conditions, I would estimate that they probably cleaned up about two-thirds of the area,” he added of Equinor. “That leaves still at least one-third of the area that has not been treated.”

Given that Dorian’s winds blew the spilled oil north into the pine forests, Mr Darville said: “Our main concern is the wetlands. When they dried up, we filled up the water kegs and there was oil in the sub-strata in the wetlands. That’s very concerning, as it has penetrated the water table. There’s still oil trapped in there.”