‘Promissory words not legally enforceable’

Aug 25, 2022 News

– Attorney warns Jagdeo on Gas-to-Energy project

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana has been assured by American oil major, ExxonMobil, that it will not walk away from any accidents that arise at a US$1.3 billion gas pipeline that is part of the administration’s Gas-to-Energy (GTE) scheme, geared at slashing electricity costs by 50 percent.

Attorney-at-Law, Elizabeth Deane-Hughes

Attorney-at-Law and resident of Wales, West Bank Demerara, Elizabeth Deane-Hughes has however warned that while “the implementation of the GTE pipeline project continues with an operator and/or contractor, that continues to vocalize words full of promissory undertaking this may not be legally enforceable.” She said, “These strings of words merely become a “he say, she say, dem say scene, not enforceable within our judicial system.”

In a recent interview with this publication, Deane-Hughes acknowledged the moves being made by the Ministry of Homes Affairs when it comes to preparing for a possible fire or explosion that may arise due to a gas leak at the project.

“I am happy that the Ministry of Home Affairs is developing or is in the process of developing a response plan…while it is welcomed, now that they are doing all of this work I hope that they take into consideration- and I am not a gas expert- but things like Novec gas systems, the FM200 gas system and other systems that are specifically related to the oil and gas industry,” she explained.

Novec gas is a synthetic/chemical fire suppressant. It is waterless and extinguishes a fire by removing the free radicals or heat element of the fire triangle (Oxygen, Heat and Fuel). Similarly, the FM-200 Clean Agent is a colorless, odorless, non-contaminating gaseous fire protection agent.

The Attorney noted that a quick Google search would help one to understand that there are specific fire equipment and other gears that may be required to handle oil and gas related disasters or fires.

She reasoned, “There are things like static electricity for example and the wind, when you have a gas fluid running through a pipeline at a certain rate in a pressurized condition, it is completely different from a gas plant which is a standing plant under pressure. There is no movement of any liquid or any gas in that situation so the two situations are not comparable and yes we are happy to know that we will have a fire station in Wales but the pipeline is running through Canal Number One and Two and Crane which is quite a distance away from Wales so how are we dealing with that when an explosion occurs?”

To this end, she told Kaieteur News that any response plan should be documented and included in ExxonMobil’s Environmental Impact Assessment for the pipeline. “If these things are not in place, the Gas Leak Management Plan which they are currently working to set up, the fire station or the fire service which are first responders would be part of that plan and unless they have their stuff in place I really don’t see how we could possibly have an EIA submitted for a gas pipeline that can be accepted by the EPA,” the Attorney noted.

She believes that “the sequence of these events are completely off in the realm of logic” but it remains unclear which realm both the government and Exxon has chosen to operate in.

The Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn earlier this month indicated to Kaieteur News that part of the Government’s master plan for the GTE project is the construction of a new fire station and procurement of more vehicles.

Meanwhile, when it comes to boosting the capacity of the manpower attached to the agency, the Minister assured that a new cohort is presently being trained at the Leonora, West Coast Demerara office. In addition, he said the government has engaged its counterparts in Brazil and Barbados to assist in boosting the capacity of the fire department here. He could not say when this training would commence.

The preparedness of the Guyana Government for incidents caused as a result of the GTE project was first questioned by an Attorney-at-Law and resident of Wales, Elizabeth Deane-Hughes, following a series of explosions at a Cuba fuel depot which took five days to finally be controlled.

Last week, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was asked whether the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has entered into discussion with ExxonMobil Guyana for the pipeline aspect of the project when he argued it was too early.

In the absence of a gas leak management plan, Guyanese are clueless not only about the likely damage that can be caused as a result of a possible leak from the pipeline, which will be used to transport the natural resource, but also the likely response from the project developer, ExxonMobil. When asked about its responsibility at a public consultation hosted back in May, the oil company merely assured that it will not walk away from any incidents, but will do the right thing.

The Gas to Energy Project Manager, Mr. Friedrich Krispin while responding to a question by this newspaper explained that lawyers often advise not to talk about taking responsibility as this often ties the company to legal consequences. According to him, “Responsibility is something that lawyers tell us not to talk about…because there are a lot of interesting legal ramifications with responsibility but the one thing I can tell you is; I can say from 35 years of experience and I can say from knowing the history of a 140 years of this corporation we don’t walk away from incidents, issues, accidents etcetera, we make sure that we take care of things, we make sure that we clean up where we left, we make sure that we clean up the environment if there is an incident and we make sure that things are left very much like we found them.”
When he was pressed further to say when a document would be signed, specifically to secure an insurance policy to cover any mishaps, Krispin said he could not respond. “Unfortunately I can’t speak to that it is something the legal department is working through. They have commitments with the Government of Guyana and I have read some of them stuff but I can’t speak on their behalf but I am sure that they are always gonna do the right thing,” he shared.