“The FSO Nabarima is upright and stable with no visible tilt and there is no imminent risk or tilting or sinking at this time.”

This was the conclusion given by Minister of Energy and Energy and Energy Industries, Franklin Khan, as he released the findings of an inspection of the Venezuelan owned vessel which was conducted by a three-member team of experts in his Ministry on Tuesday.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Minister Khan sought to correct the many misgivings touted about the vessel in recent weeks.

“People may not know this but that FSO has been there, operating, for over ten years” Khan said.

“When the FSO is filled, a tanker comes alongside it, the FSO pumps its crude into the crude and the tanker ships it away for export. That has been going on continuously for over ten years- without any fuss…without any media coverage,” he explained.

He says it was since US sanctions had been imposed on Venezuela, that activity had to cease, which saw the FSO being filled with 1.3 million barrels of oil for over 9 months.

“And that’s where the challenge lies,” he said.

Nonetheless, he says Tuesday’s inspection found that the maintenance of the vessel met the satisfaction of the team.

“All systems appeared to be functional…The pumps, most of them were operational, some were being repaired,” Khan said.

He added that there had, however, been two “unwanted problems” which arose in early September, which the Venezuelan authority admitted.

In the first instance, the Venezuelan government acknowledged there was a loss of stability which led to the tilting of the vessel.

Secondly, the entry of unwanted water into the fourth deck of the engine room, due to valve failure.

But as it stands, both matters have been resolved, as confirmed by Khan.

“It was confirmed from the representatives that during the incident when the engine room was flooding there was no mixing of oil and bilge water. The oil did not leak from the containment tanks. What this implies, ladies and gentlemen, is that the double hull is intact and poses minimus risk of any oil spills at this time,” the Minister said.

Responding to calls for a proper contingency plan to be set up for concerns such as these, Khan pointed out there is already an oil spill contingency plan between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela that covers the Gulf of Paria and can be invoked immediately if a threat is perceived.

“We were almost bullied by certain forces to invoke , but we had no technical basis to so do. And that is why this trip was so important,” Khan said.