Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 04, 2021 News
By Shikema Dey
Kaieteur News – It is high time for an independent investigation to be conducted into ExxonMobil’s claim that its gas compressor has malfunctioned. At least this is according to environmental engineering expert, Dr. Vincent Adams.
His assertion comes days after Exxon’s Guyana subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), announced that the gas compressor on the Liza Destiny FPSO suffered yet another malfunction after purportedly being fixed in December last year.
That malfunction will now lead to millions of toxic natural gas being flared, as a necessary step to maintain safety operations on the FPSO, Exxon had reported.
Dr. Adams, who appeared on Kaieteur Radio’s Governance, Corruption and You, hosted by Senior Journalist, Kiana Wilburg, revealed that he is of the view that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which he previously headed, had addressed this very issue.
But the problem has reared its head once again, leaving more questions than answers.
“I think an investigation would be very much in order, because if this happens so quickly after we thought that we have solved this issue, so you know you fool me once, shame on you…you know the saying…” he stated.
According to Dr. Adams, mitigative actions were placed in the Liza One Environmental Permit that speaks explicitly to equipment malfunctions.
In fact, that article 3.13 says that Exxon should have spare equipment on hand in any event such as this. But the language in the permit is so ambiguous, that it does not mandate that Exxon “must” have spare equipment.
Kaieteur News had posed questions to Exxon’s Public Affairs Manager, Janelle Persaud, to ascertain whether the oil supermajor had adhered to article 3.13, but no answer was forthcoming up to press time.
One would have expected Exxon to slow production at the Liza Destiny well. This, however, is far from reality as the company would be allowed to continue operating at full capacity, churning out 120,000 barrels of oil daily.
But according to Dr. Adams, this should not be happening.
If he was still at the helm of the EPA, Dr. Adams asserted, the company would be mandated to operate at minimum capacity, until the problem is fixed as the dangers associated with continued flaring outweigh the benefits.
“They would not have been producing in full, that I can tell you,” he continued. “We would have gone and investigate what the issue is and how fast it’s going to be fixed. But even producing at the minimum was not going to be going on for even weeks or months like what occurred in the past, because they had the opportunity for an entire year to fix this problem,” the environmental engineering expert added.
What is a cause for concern and is unexplainable, Dr. Adams said, was the fact that this malfunction issue only occurs at Exxon’s Guyana operations.
Another critical issue too, he outlined was the question of Exxon’s quality assurance programme.
He explained, “any time you go and ask a vendor to manufacture this type of important and major equipment, you’re supposed to have these QAQC (quality assurance, quality control) plans that you’re supposed to oversee to make sure that the specification and anything else are in line. You can’t wait until you bring it aboard the ship to figure out; gosh, guess what, they’ve got the wiring wrong, they’ve got the wrong seals; the valves are bad. You know it’s your problem; it’s not a manufactures problem.”
And Exxon being such a big company would have experts readily available, Dr. Adams continued.
Now that Guyana is given the second go at this issue, a clear investigation is what is needed taking into consideration that Exxon has plans to bring eight more FPSOs on shore.
“We better fix it here right now rather than wait until we get 10 FPSOs running or 20 depending on the other operators and then we got problem all over the place,” Dr. Adams added.
What is also critical, the former EPA head noted, is the need for 24/7 monitors aboard the FPSOs.
Dr. Adams explained that during his tenure, the EPA, with assistance from the World Bank, developed a Petroleum Unit containing 36 highly-skilled staffers to streamline its monitoring duties of the oil and gas sector.
However, the agency’s efforts were hampered due the then Coalition regime’s inability to approve the requisite funding due to its caretaker status. With a budget now in place, Dr. Adams posited that acquiring the relevant officers for the unit should be a priority.
“When the contractors themselves reporting incidents, (and) when you go see for yourselves, over 90 percent of the time, (it) is totally different to what they reporting,” said Dr. Adams.
He continued, “I am not saying that, that is what is happening here. What was reported could almost be totally different to the condition that exists so that is why 24/7 presence is absolutely important.”
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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