‘It is definitely not an oil spill’ – Natural Resources Minister

Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat on Thursday rubbished reports made by fishermen of an oil spill some 45 nautical miles offshore Guyana.

When asked about the issue at the sidelines of an event on Thursday evening, Minister Bharrat said “I can say for sure that it is not an oil spill.”

“I think we know that offshore we do not produce or you do not extract gasoline or diesel offshore, you extract crude so what we would have seen is maybe diesel or gasoline that was probably deposited or leaked from transporting cargo, a fishing vessel,” Bharrat said.

News of the ‘suspected oil spill’ came to the fore after videos taken by fishermen were published on social media on December 4, showing what appears to be a brown substance in the Atlantic Ocean.

The minister explained that the government has engaged both ExxonMobil Guyana that is operating in the Stabroek Block and CGX Energy Inc. operating in the Corentyne Block, with “no such reports” coming from the companies.

“It is definitely not an oil spill.”

Following the reports, officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) kicked into action to investigate but this proved to be a hard task as no accurate location was shared by the fishermen who reported the incident.

Now, the EPA is on high alert and is still conducting investigations into the reports.