Nearly four months after Tobago endured one of its worst environmental disasters, the vessel allegedly involved has been located thousands of kilometers away on another continent and detained on unrelated charges.
On the morning of February 7, authorities detected an oil slick emanating from a capsized vessel off the west coast of Tobago. The slick rapidly reached the southwest shoreline, prompting a national emergency declaration.
The tug and barge identified in the incident were the Solo Creed and the Gulfstream, both known for towing Venezuelan oil.
The barge, carrying 35,000 barrels of oil destined for Guyana, encountered difficulties en route, leading to its capsizing off Tobago’s coast.
The resulting oil spill extended hundreds of kilometers westward, reaching Bonaire, Aruba, and Grenada. Cleanup efforts have incurred an estimated cost of $23.5 million to date.
In an exclusive investigation by the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian and Dutch journalism group Bellingcat, the Solo Creed has been located.
The tug was apprehended on May 11 in Angola for trespassing within the African nation’s claimed offshore oil security perimeter of extraction blocks 17 and 18. The vessel is currently anchored in Luanda Bay.
Stuart Young, Trinidad & Tobago’s energy minister, is in communication with Angolan counterparts to evaluate the new information.
Neither the tug nor the barge had insurance at the time of the incident, and their ownership was initially unclear. It has since emerged that Abraham Olalekan of Nigeria was the owner of both vessels.
