“Usually, there’s absolute silence about these types of accidents, not only from the oil industry, which is responsible for using the equipment and facilities and responding to these types of accidents, but also from other state agencies,” Klein said. “There’s a smokescreen of information. There’s no way to get details about the amount and type of product that was spilled.”
PDVSA and Chevron didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article.
Venezuela has around 300 billion barrels of oil reserves, according to OPEC. It also has 5.5 billion barrels of proven natural gas reserves. Last year, it produced around 600,000 barrels per day, reportedly below its target goal of a million barrels per day.
However, the country could produce more moving into 2023, thanks to eased international sanctions. Last November, the US granted the oil giant Chevron a temporary license to expand operations amid ongoing global gas shortages.
“Any initiative to start or increase oil production — the risk of accidents is very great and the impact on environmental systems is enormous,” Klein said.
Banner image: Local boats in Venezuela. Photo courtesy of Chevron.
Citation:
USAID. (2022). Venezuela FAA118/119 Tropical Forest and Biodiversity Analysis. Retrieved from https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00ZKHH.pdf
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Energy, Energy Politics, Environment, Environmental Law, Environmental Politics, Freshwater Ecosystems, Infrastructure, Lakes, Marine Biodiversity, Marine Conservation, Marine Ecosystems, Oil, Oil Drilling, Oil Spills, Protected Areas
Latin America, South America, Venezuela
Source link : https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/venezuelas-oil-spill-crisis-reached-new-heights-in-2022-report/
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Publish date : 2023-01-20 03:00:00
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