'Significant' oil spill in Exuma waters

An aerial view of the oil spill in Exuma. Photo: Reno Curling

As of Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Minister of Works & Utilities Alfred Sears, Q.C., along with Pedro Rolle, Chairman of BPL, and Shevonn Cambridge, CEO of BPL, have arrived in Exuma with other Cabinet ministers and environmental engineers to assess the oil spill. (Photo: Ministry of Works and Utilities)

Photo: BIS

The oil spill in Exuma waters. (Photo: Ministry of Works and Utilities)

30,000 gallons of oil have spilled in Exuma waters, Acting Prime Minister Chester Cooper said today.

Speaking in the House of Assembly, Mr Cooper said the “significant” spill happened between 5pm and 4am when The Arabian, a vessel contracted for Sun Oil, was offloading fuel to Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) in the area of the Old Navy Base in George Town.

“We are advised at the moment that the oil is contained in the bay the area of the Exuma Sailing Club,” Mr Cooper said.

He added that he has spoken to the relevant ministers and has been advised that all agencies of government have been deployed to mitigate the matter.

He has also spoken to Sun Oil executives who are cooperating.

BMW 2 years, 5 months ago

Sun oil cooperating, i hope sun oil bears the whole cost of cleaning up their mess. Someone fell asleep thats for sure.

ThisIsOurs 2 years, 5 months ago

We shall see. I noticed the statement on the afternoon news "a company they contracted to ...", SunOil may abdicate all responsibility, like Pinewood, and if that's a local company with no resources...

tribanon 2 years, 5 months ago

No doubt the very greedy and bullying Snake has already told Alfred Sears in no uncertain terms that Sun Oil's liability for anything to do with the oil ended when it was removed from Sun Oil's storage facility and loaded on board The Arabian for delivery to BPL's storage facility in Exuma.

In other words, BPL likely contracted the The Arabian vessel from a PLP crony, whomever that may be. And let's not forget that Snake is rumoured to be a big-time financial-backer of the PLP political machinery which means that one way or the other the poor taxpayers are likely to get stuck with the clean-up bill after all the back scratching between Davis and Snake is said and done, behind the scenes in private of course.

ThisIsOurs 2 years, 5 months ago

We in bad shape. what will it take for them to realize the tremendous risk they put us at with this kisses by favour economics?

tribanon 2 years, 5 months ago

What an unsightly mess!

Exactly who contracted this vessel named The Arabian "for Sun Oil" and who is the owner of the vessel?

Is The Arabian a vessel flagged (registered) in The Bahamas?

And it is unclear from this news story on which day the incident happened. The of time of day the incident happened is mentioned but not the actual day itself.

Did BPL acquire ownership of the oil at the time it was loaded on board The Arabian or was transfer of ownership of the oil intended to occur immediately after the oil was off-loaded to BPL's Exuma storage facility?

Was the spill caused by faulty or improperly handled equipment belonging to BPL or the vessel's owner? Was it caused by negligence on the part of BPL's personnel or the vessel's personnel?

Does the vessel's owner have in place adequate insurance coverage if it is found to have been responsible for the spill? What about BPL having adequate insurance coverage if it found to be responsible for the incident?

We can only hope The Tribune's editor/publisher ensures the public gets the answers it deserves to these and other important questions of national interest.

We will leave it for our short pudgy PM to tell us how many carbon credits we have lost because of this incident. LOL. Certainly can't be any more than we lose from each and every cruise ship we allow into our territorial waters.

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