Dateline: February 7, 2003 News
Release
For Immediate Release
Oil Spill at Petrojam Facilities
The National Oil Spill Response Team is investigating
the release of a small quantity of oil in the vicinity of the Montego Bay
Freeport. The discharge was first observed in the vicinity of Berth 2 at dusk
on Thursday February 6. Observations made at that time suggested that the
oil was escaping from a broken or damaged pipeline installed and operated
by one of the petroleum handling companies at the Freeport, which is managed
by the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ).
The rate of release diminished overnight and
appeared to have ceased by mid morning on Friday 7th. A small slick caused
by the release was dissipating by Friday evening. While the assessment of
impact is not yet complete, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA)
says it is not likely that the event has caused significant
environmental damage.
The Montego Bay Marine Park, Marine Police, Office
of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), and JDF Coast Guard
were duly notified of the event. The Marine Park and Marine Police officers
carried out assessments overnight and were joined by staff from the Port Authority
and the companies involved in managing the pipelines at the Port. The efforts
of the response team to access containment equipment to restrict the
spread of the oil by deploying booms overnight were hampered and will lead
to a thorough review of the Standard Operating Procedures.
The leak is thought to have emanated from a pipeline
which has previously released oil and which has been subject to investigation
and testing. NEPA is now reviewing the circumstances of the release to determine
what enforcement action should follow.
The PAJ, in collaboration with the operators
of the pipelines have undertaken to conduct an immediate investigation of
the integrity of their pipelines in the vicinity of the berths to identify
and implement remedial action so as to avoid any recurrence of this event.
