By: Staff Writer
June 16, 2026
A Trinidad oil spill is threatening local fishing communities in Venezuela, the South American country is saying.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil asked Trinidad and Tobago in May for compensation for another oil spill that had affected areas in the far east of the country.
Trinidad and Tobago’s government said on Friday that it had deployed its Air Guard, Coast Guard and drones to find the purported oil spill and was requesting the location coordinates from Venezuela.
“The Air Guard and Coast Guard have been deployed to do reconnaissance work on the sea and with drones to determine the facts,” Trinidad Energy Minister Roodal Moonilal told a news outlet.
The island’s Foreign Ministry has also reached out to Venezuela’s embassy in Port of Spain for more information, Moonilal also said.
Trinidad state-owned oil company Heritage Petroleum says there is currently no evidence to support the presence of large amounts of hydrocarbons in the sea, following an immediate investigation into the matter.
The company said it launched a multi-agency response after receiving a report yesterday of a potential hydrocarbon sighting originating within Trinidad and Tobago’s waters.
In a media release, Heritage stated: “Currently, there is no evidence to support the presence of large amounts of hydrocarbons in the sea.”
Despite a diplomatic and environmental alert from neighbouring Venezuela, comprehensive sweeps by local authorities have yielded no signs of contamination, Heritage said.
It added that a technical review of its SCADA online monitoring system confirmed all pipeline and operational parameters were normal. Additionally, emergency vessel surveillance dispatched across all company assets reported no abnormalities.
“Surveys conducted by the Coast Guard have so far corroborated Heritage’s findings, reporting no visible slicks or marine abnormalities. While preliminary sweeps indicate no immediate environmental crisis locally, response units remain on high alert,” the release said.
Heritage noted that a multi-tiered tracking strategy, involving continuous vessel surveillance and aerial flyovers, will remain in place as the company awaits definitive field data.