An estimated 1.9 million barrels of crude oil or 75 million gallons of oil was spilled from Equinor’s oil facility in Grand Bahama, according to Minister of the Environment and Housing Romauld Ferreira.

While speaking to reporters yesterday, Ferreira added that 6,000 barrels or 252,000 gallons of oil has been recovered.

“Of the 6,000 barrels collected, some of it can be reused. But of course, it’s going to have to be reprocessed because it may be mixed with water and other debris,” he said. 

“There is about 12,000 cubic meters of sludge so that will be shipped out of the country for disposal to the United States pursuant or under the Basel Convention because under the convention, we have to confirm what we are actually sending to the U.S. and they have to agree to accept it. But it will be disposed of out of the country.

“There is about 750 cubic yards of contaminated soil and rock aggregate because the Bahamas doesn’t have much soil.  So anytime you scrape soil, you always scrape rock.

“That mixture will be treated by way of delusion injection of microbes and aeration and disposed of at the Grand Bahama landfill.”    

Ferreira added that Equinor has quadrupled its staff to address the issue.

“They went from having a staff of about 50.  Now they have 200 plus persons on the ground involved in recovery and remediation,” he said. 

“Those persons are housed in two offshore vessels that are on site.  The equipment that has been mobilized, in addition to booms and skimmers, they have about 13 vacuum trucks, two helicopters and of course, two boats.  So that’s ongoing.

“The ambient air, there in order to protect the recovery team, is being monitored for benzene.

“Benzene is a compound that’s not safe to breathe.  That’s being monitored by an external third party for independent modification.” 

In terms of cleanup costs and just how much Equinor has lost, that’s still being calculated. 

Equinor has investigated the impact the spill may have had on the environment.

“So far, they did extensive aerial recognizance along the entire western seaboard of Abaco and of course, Grand Bahama,” Ferreira said.

“They saw two areas of interest, but they turned out to be seaweed.  They used visuals and infrared technology to do their scopes. On land, we can confirm that one goat and three birds were impacted by the spill.”