WILLEMSTAD - Aruba and Curaçao are closely monitoring the recent oil pollution in Venezuela. It involves a leak of hydrocarbons at the El Palito refinery in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo state.
The Crisis Management Office Aruba (CMO) states that the pollution does not pose a threat to Aruba at the moment. Meteo Aruba has been informed to monitor the sea currents, enabling continuous evaluation of the situation and assessment of risks to Aruba.
According to the received models and information from Meteo Aruba, the current will continue to move from east to west over the next 48 hours and will not turn northwest, ensuring no consequences for Aruba. Meanwhile, the disaster management agency in Curaçao is also monitoring the situation.
Leakage
The leakage was first discovered on Tuesday, said Yohan Flores, a regional director of the NGO Azul Ambientalistas, to the AFP news agency.
"A large part of the beaches of Puerto Cabello is affected," he said, referring to the country's largest port, 210 kilometers west of the capital Caracas.
State oil giant PDVSA has not addressed the leakage, even though NGOs like the Caribe Sur Foundation claim that the leakage originated in a waste lagoon near the El Palito refinery, one of the main refineries in Venezuela.
"A large part of the beaches of Puerto Cabello is affected," says Flores, adding that marine fauna could also be affected.
Waste
The last oil spill in the area occurred in July 2020 when refinery waste flowed into the sea. That incident contaminated the Morrocoy National Park, a tourist area with about twenty islets featuring white sandy beaches.
Venezuela, which has one of the world's largest oil reserves, has seen its production decline from three million barrels per day over ten years ago to 850,000 barrels per day now, with production expected to exceed one million barrels later next year.