KRALENDIJK - More than 220,000 barrels of fuel oil were pumped from BOPEC to the tanker 'Altair' in March. The tanker left for Rotterdam on 20 March. The National Office for the Caribbean (RCN) reports this on Monday.
This was done under the supervision of inspectors from Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) and the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT). The use of the jetties at the (bankrupt) BOPEC for the loading and unloading of oil was prohibited since May 2019 due to serious overdue maintenance.
In March, the scaffolding was overhauled, and repairs were carried out. As a result, RWS has allowed the use of this scaffold again under certain conditions. The loading process was closely monitored by inspectors from RWS and the ILT in collaboration with the Rotterdam Rijnmond Safety Region.
BOPEC is an oil terminal on Bonaire that is owned by PdVSA, the state oil company of Venezuela. The oil terminal went bankrupt due to years of economic sanctions against Venezuela, which prevented financial transactions from being carried out. As a result, all activities came to a halt, while a lot of oil was still present in two large storage tanks.
“The sale and disposal of part of the fuel oil is an important step in the settlement of the bankruptcy of BOPEC and a positive development for the restart of the terminal,” said RCN.