The Southern Marines Steelband Foundation and the people of Marabella are concerned that Niquan
Energy has announced that its Gas to Liquid Plant located on the compound of the Pointe-A Pierre refinery will be restarted by the end of March 2022.
We are concerned because eleven months later no reports of the investigations into the April 7th 2021
Niquan explosion that rocked the Marabella community have been published. The community is a fence line community with thousands of residents, visitors and workers. The Southern Marines Steelband Foundation which is located at the heart of the Marabella community insists that:
The Niquan plant should not be restarted in the absence of public access to the reports of the in-
vestigations and that residents, workers and visitors to Marabella must be satisfied that measures have
been taken to implement the recommendations emanating from these reports and the necessary permis-
sions to work have been issued.
Three authorised institutions were tasked with doing a root cause analysis of the April 7th 2021 explo-
sion. They are the Ministry of Energy, the Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) and the Envi-
ronmental Management Authority (EMA). The Ministry of Energy established a six-person technical team
whose mandate was
1) Establish the facts of the incident;
2) Conduct a thorough investigation and contributing factors to determine the root cause(s) of the ex-
plosion;
3) Review the adequacy of existing controls and procedures;
4) Make recommendations which could reduce future risks and prevent recurrences; and
5) Prepare a final report which would be delivered to the Minister of Energy.
The Ministry received a preliminary report dated April 14, 2021, seven days after the explosion, and an
The Ministry received a preliminary report dated April 14, 2021, seven days after the explosion, and an
interim report dated June 1st 2021. According to a Ministry statement: “Subsequent to the production of the
interim report, the MEEI received the assessment studies that were conducted...”
The Ministry requested further information from Niquan to assist with the determination of the root
cause of the incident which, it says, was obtained and has been reviewed by the investigation team. Eight
months have passed since the interim report and still no final report has been published.
On the very day of the explosion, as reported in the online Trinidad Guardian of April 7th 2021, the
Environmental Management Authority (EMA) stated: “the EMA will conduct an assessment of environmental
impact and further investigations at the site of the incident....” A diligent online search revealed no infor-
mation that the Environmental Management Authority was involved in the investigations.
On 8 April 2021 the Occupational Safety and Health Authority (OSHA) issued a statement on the Ni-
quan explosion. It stated: “On April 7, 2021 the OSH Agency “immediately despatched a team of inspectors to
initiate an investigation into the incident. The Agency is currently in the process of collecting information to
facilitate the investigation.” This is the only mention on the OSHA website of this issue that is critical to the
safety and security of Marabella residents, workers and visitors
In April, 2021, Malcolm Wells, Niquan’s vice president of corporate affairs said: “The impact assess-
ment is ongoing and operations will not resume until the authorised investigations have been completed, any
resulting recommendations have been implemented and all necessary permissions to resume operations have
been received.”
The authorised investigations are not yet completed, eleven months after the explosion; so there
are no resulting recommendations, and permissions to resume work, therefore, cannot be issued.
In September 2021, Wells said “We have completed the root cause assessment and implemented all the
recommendations and we are now re-aligning the business track with a view to being in full production by the
end of the year.” This suggests that the investigations were completed and recommendations implemented. Is
he referring to an internal Niquan investigation or to the authorised investigations, supposedly carried out by
state agencies? This projected start-up date came and went.
In December, Niquan issued the following statement “Once all safety measures have been implement-
ed and accepted by Niquan’s engineer of record, the plant will be brought back up to full commercial opera-
tion... The target date for that accomplishment is now set for 1st quarter 2022.” This is unacceptable.
The Southern Marines Steelband Foundation, on behalf of the residents, workers and visitors of Mara-
bella demands answers the following questions:
If there are completed investigative reports why have they not been made public? This is a matter of
great concerns to the safety and security of thousands of residents, workers and visitors and cannot be
treated as secret and confidential information shared between the company and authorised state agencies.
If these reports exist, do they contain measures to prevent recurrence?
Do they spell out the due diligence steps taken in the lead up to the restart?
Are there policies and procedures in place for pre-start up commissioning activities?
Have risk assessments and hazard analysis been done to ensure safe start-up?
Are there controls in place and have work permissions been issued?
Is there an emergency response plan based on scenario analysis of plant facilities and on the Mara-
bella community?
The Southern Marines Steelband Foundation demands that:
All completed investigative reports be published.
The authorised state agencies and Niquan must consult with the people of Marabella through the
holding of so-called townhouse meetings to discuss all matters surrounding the reports and recom-
mendations arising from them and must be satisfied that the restarting of the plant does not, once
again, pose a threat to the safety and security of residents, workers and visitors.
If the two demands spelt out here are not met. The Southern Marines Steelband Foundation insists that
the plant must not be restarted and calls on the people of Marabella to hold firm to that position so that their
safety and security will not be compromised.
For further information, contact Gerry Kangalee #785 7637 or Rae Samuel #774 9110.
Replies