Heritage Petroleum’s CEO, Kerry Rampersad is defending the company’s spill detection and response systems, days after the company said there was no evidence to support the presence of large amount of hydrocarbon in the sea.
Heritage’s CEO, Kerry Rampersad says while oil leaks can happen in the industry, the company is built to respond quickly and limit any impact.
“Our highest priority is the responsible operation of our facilities and the safe containment of all hydrocarbons. Loss of containment of hydrocarbon, it can occur from time to time in the industry. If and when this occurs, the focus at Heritage is on really detecting quickly and responding effectively”
The comments come after Heritage said on Friday June 12th that checks across its operations, monitoring systems and offshore surveillance found no signs of any major spill, responding to a statement from Venezuela regarding the possible incident originating in T&T.
Mr. Rampersad pointed out that detection systems are both automated and manual, allowing teams to identify problems early.
“You have the online SCIda, so automated data goes back so the operators can monitor and they can detect. And we also have visual inspection that is being done by operators on the field.”
Once an anomaly is identified, the company moves immediately to shut down and investigate.
“So when it is detected by either online or by visual, the operators get alarms, and the alarms for the abnormalities now will be triggered. So this will trigger a shutdown. Now, once it’s a shutdown, operators will now be dispatched to go to the respective areas to determine the extent of the spill.”
He noted that the plan includes notifying regulators and coordinating with national security agencies to contain any threat.
“The team has to ensure that the source is identified and the leak is then stopped as per our safety and environmental procedures. So in parallel, we may also now reach out to the Coast Guard, the Air Guard, in addition our vessels to determine the extent of the spill. And why do we want to know the extent of the spill? So that we could implement the most appropriate containment and cleanup measures.”
On Friday, Heritage said it conducted field checks throughout its operations, noting that no abnormalities were reported, and a review of its online monitoring system confirmed all parameters were normal, adding that vessel surveillance was also dispatched across all company assets, and liaising with the T&T Coast Guard, resulting in a report of no abnormalities.