Greek Company Denies Involvement in Massive Oil Slick off Brazil

Greek ship manager Delta Tankers has denied its involvement in an oil spill off the coast of Brazil that has kept the country’s response agencies busy over the past two months.

Brazilian authorities said on November 1 that Greek-flagged crude oil tanker Bouboulina, carrying Venezuelan crude, was responsible for the spill.

Delta Tankers denied this, saying that a full search of the material from the cameras and sensors that all their vessels carry as part of their safety and environmental policies, revealed no proof that the Bouboulina could be responsible for the spill.

“There is no proof of the vessel having stopped, conducted any kind of STS operation (ship to ship), oil leaked/spilled, slowed down or veered off course, on its passage from Venezuela to Melaka, Malaysia,” the company said.

The company added that it would share its materials with Brazilian authorities, should they contact the company, noting that no contact had been made so far.

The oil spill, that is estimated to have taken place on July 28-29, affected 2,500 km of Brazil’s coastlines, hitting at least 120 locations in 77 municipalities. Brazil’s environmental agency IBAMA earlier stated that the substance was ‘crude oil’ of a type that is not produced in Brazil.