Source: Daily Express
The presence of questionable vessels with false flags and registration in the Caribbean Sea, as well as several oil spills linked to Venezuelan oil refineries in late 2024, may pose future concerns for the Caribbean region.
This warning came from Dr Anthony Gonsalves, an Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of International Relations.
These incidents continue to occur as the worldwide maritime industry’s concerns about fake vessel registrations escalate. Recent media reports have emphasised the suspension of five oil tankers associated with a Syrian business with claimed ties to Iran and Venezuela. These vessels were also discovered to be flying fraudulent flags and had fraudulent registration paperwork.
In January this year Reuters, during a two-year investigation, was able to track an Iranian ship covertly transferring oil to other vessels which later found their way to China, Venezuela and Russia. There was also evidence that Venezuela, Iran and Russia have been involved in a shadow fleet despite sanctions issued by the US.
Gonsalves said this network of ships with false flags and registration is finding a way around US sanctions.
“I knew this story of the oil spills, but I did not know it was connected to this. I guess that has been around for a while. These countries do not accept the US sanctions, and they try to find ways to get around them, and that is one of the ways they try. It’s only the country imposing the sanctions that can try to do something about it. If they don’t do anything about it, I don’t know what they expect others to do. The countries that buy the oil from that are countries that also have problems with the US, like China, Russia, or whoever.
“As a result, it is very difficult to do something about it. If Venezuela does not accept US sanctions, they are going to try to find ways to get around them, so that if they engage with Iran to sell their oil, using these hidden means, then I don’t see basically what the international community can do to stop it,” he said.
However, Gonsalves stated that if the United Nations were to step in, then some kind of firm action could be taken. “I mean, if it was UN sanctions against these countries, one could probably do something about it at that international level. But these are specific US sanctions. So these sanctions do not apply internationally to these countries. To me, if the UN applies these sanctions, then they can apply some kind of control and try to ensure the sanctions are respected. But this is US-issued sanctions,” Gonsalves said.
Rise in oil spills
A report generated by Clima 21, a Venezuelan non-profit organisation aimed at promoting environmental human rights in Venezuela, detailed that between the months of July and September 2024, it recorded 25 oil spills in five states of that country, reflecting an increase compared to those recorded in previous quarters.
Gonsalves raised concerns about the potential impact of Venezuelan oil spills on Caribbean countries, but the matter has mostly gone unnoticed. “I am not clear how many countries in the region have been damaged. I have not been reading about it, so I am not clear. So whichever countries in the region were damaged, certainly they will have to be litigated. The company would be the one to have to take the responsibility,” he said.
He added, that regardless of which company, it would be the shipper that caused the vessel to spill.
“I don’t know why PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela, SA) would be responsible there; they sold the oil to that company, and that company takes on the responsibility for delivering the oil to wherever. If its boat ran ashore and damaged a country or whatever, that company is responsible for that. This is how I am seeing it, I am not an international lawyer and it may have other ramifications that I may not be seeing. But I would think largely the responsibility will fall on the company that is in charge of the vessel that is shipping the oil. I suspect if these countries have been damaged, then they would have a claim. They would go after the company and try to seek some kind of redress, as I suspect Trinidad would do. Tobago was damaged; Trinidad knows the company, and they could put out a claim if they find out who the company is if they soon find that out, and I guess the other countries in the Caribbean would do the same,” Gonsalves added.
He stated that countries must take specific steps to ensure that vessels sailing through their economic waters conform to certain requirements. “The thing is that you can be concerned; you can have problems if you realise it can lead to things like an oil spill. You have certain limits as these waters may be your economic zone, but you still have to allow these vessels to pass through internationally. You cannot stop them even if it’s your zone; ships have a right to pass through because they can’t do that all over the world and ban ships from passing through your economic waters. But if you have problems with oil vessels passing through an area where they are likely to cause oil spills and you have had experience with that, you could probably do something. You can try and impose some limits and where they would pass and try to regulate their passage, said Gonsalves.
Referencing the oil spill off Tobago last year, Gonsalves said he was perturbed as to why the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard (TTCG) did not know this vessel passing through the country’s waters.
“How our TTCG was not aware that vessel was passing through. Any oil shipment passing through our economic zone should be aware of it and monitored in a certain way, because these things are dangerous and things can go wrong, particularly with oil shipments. So, at least you should be in a position to monitor it and find out if they do everything correctly,” he said.