Incident in Trinidad and Tobago (Gulfstream) – Director visits areas affected

IOPC Funds’ Director (second from right) and Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries (third from right), together with officials from the Ministry and the IOPC Funds, following their meeting on 20 May 2024.

On 20 and 21 May, IOPC Funds’ Director, Mr Gaute Sivertsen, and Claims Manager, Mr Mark Homan, travelled to Trinidad and Tobago, where they held meetings in relation to the oil pollution incident (Gulfstream) in the 1992 Fund Member State. The visit followed the decision by the 1992 Fund Executive Committee, at its 82nd session in April 2024, to authorise the Director to make payments in respect of losses arising out of the incident. The IOPC Funds, represented by its Deputy Director and Head of Claims Department, Ms Liliana Monsalve, and Mr Homan, had conducted a fact-finding mission to Trinidad and Tobago in March 2024. 

During their time in Trinidad and Tobago, the Director and Mr. Homan met with the Member State’s Minister of Energy and Energy Industries and representatives from the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, the Ministry of Works and Transport and the Institute of Marine Affairs. The Director underscored the IOPC Funds’ commitment to putting in place the processes to receive and assess claims arising from the incident and thanked the Minister for the Member State’s cooperation with the organisation since the oil spill was detected in early February 2024. The Minister noted that investigations to determine the ownership of the two vessels involved in the incident were still underway and reaffirmed that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago would take legal action against the owners once they were identified.  

The IOPC team visited the sites that have been impacted by the oil spill and interacted with experts involved in the response operations. 

The Secretariat will report any further developments regarding the incident at the next session of the governing bodies in November 2024.