NATIONAL Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds says investigations into all aspects of the February 7 oil spill off the south-western coast of Tobago are underway.
Those investigations include locating the owners of the tug boat Solo Creed which was reportedly towing the barge Gulfstream to Guyana.
The capsized vessel off Tobago has been identified as the Gulfstream.
Hinds made the comments in a television interview on Thursday.
He said those investigations include trying to locate the Solo Creed and identify its owners.
Hinds was satisfied with the progress of the investigations into the oil spill.
"These things are coming together very nicely."
Hinds promised that the public would be informed about the outcome of those investigations as they had been about all aspects of the response to the spill, to date.
[caption id="attachment_1064099" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Farley Augustine -[/caption]
"As soon as we come to conclusions on them, we continue to share information."
He promised that once the investigations were concluded, their results would be shared with the public.
Hinds referred to a statement issued by his ministry on Wednesday which said the Coast Guard confirmed the Solo Creed was towing the Gulfstream from Panama to Guyana.
Satellite imagery showed the Solo Creed towing the Gulfstream on February 4.
The National Coastal Surveillance Radar Centre (NCSRC) was able to use this information to track the Solo Creed in TT waters.
The NCSRC eventually lost radar contact with both vessels. The Coast Guard confirmed that neither the Solo Creed nor the Gulfstream arrived in Guyana.
Hinds recalled that the Gulfstream was first discovered off the coast of Tobago on February 7.
At that time, he continued, no one knew whether the barge had any crew or cargo on board.
Hinds said the investigations to determine the origin of the Gulfstream began immediately after its discovery.
Those investigations, he continued, included collaborations with the Guyana Coast Guard and the regional security organisation, Caricom Impacs.
In its statement, the ministry said Caricom Impacs contacted authorities in Panama and Aruba, for photographs of the tug boat and the barge.
Dutch authorities in Aruba, provided images of the tug towing the barge.
These images were used to confirm the identity of both vessels.
Checks on Vesselfinder.com showed the Solo Creed being a Tanzanian registered vessel.
The Solo Creed arrived at Cristobal, Panama on January 3 and remained there until January 12.
After leaving Panama, its next port of call was Aruba on January 20.
According to information on tanker.trackers.com, the Gulfstream was reportedly seen in Pozuelo Bay, Venezuela during the last week of January.
A post on this website claimed the barge had more than 350,000 barrels of fuel oil on board.
A photo posted on the website said satellite imagery showed the Solo Creed at sea on January 18, towing the Gulfstream.
Another photo on the website said on February 6, satellite imagery showed
