Petrotrin shuts in offshore platforms
Trinidad and Tobago's state oil company, Petrotrin, today shut down seven offshore platforms to assess their safety following the death of a contract worker earlier in the week.
The company said in a statement that the safety review on platforms owned by its Trinmar subsidiary would continue until all "nonconformances have been rectified".
Petrotrin spokesman Arnold Corneal said production would be affected but did not provide specifics.
Trinmar produces around 32,000 barrels of oil per day and operates four oil fields offshore with more than 20 platforms.
"We will certainly experience a drop but the shutting down is necessary at this time," he told Reuters.
Maintenance worker Ricardo Felix, 39, died from severe burns when a gas pipeline on an offshore platform ruptured on Monday. Two other workers remain hospitalised with serious burns.
Yesterday, Trinmar workers stopped work for several hours after union officials claimed Petrotrin was plotting to shut down the platforms as a pretext to closing the Trinmar operations and selling its assets to a foreign company.
The workers returned to work after company officials assured them there were no plans to close Trinmar.