Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 19, 2023 News
Kaieteur News – Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is yet to release a report on the one barrel oil spill reported by oil giant ExxonMobil since last September; but the Head-of-State’s position is that details on each such incident must be made public.
President Irfaan Ali was at the time responding to a question from Kaieteur News on Monday at State House when he said he was unaware that the Government did not release a statement on the incident.
He explained, “As you said, it’s one barrel, in an operation, the size of Exxon’s, but I agree with you that even if it is quarter of a barrel, or less than a quarter of a barrel, whenever the investigation is done and whenever the report is done that elements of it can be made available.”
But even as the public awaits word from the EPA on the issue, President Ali said he will be looking into it as well.
Exxon in a statement to the media explained that a team on the Liza Unity Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel observed a sheen on the water in the vicinity of the vessel on September 9, last.
According to the oil company, initial investigations indicate that about one barrel of crude was released during a maintenance activity on the vessel. Further, the activity was immediately halted and the leak was cut off.
Exxon said, “Additional surveillance by helicopter confirmed that there was no sheen in the area; only a light sheen was perceptible approximately 20 km (13 miles) North West of the vessel. By midday on September 10, a support vessel in the area confirmed no further sign of a sheen.”
Executive Director of the EPA, Mr. Kemraj Parsram had confirmed that the regulatory body had received the report and were investigating. He explained that the EPA was still trying to determine whether the spill was just limited to one barrel of crude.
Since the incident was reported, four months have already elapsed with no official update from government. Only last week this newspaper reached out to Parsram seeking information on the investigation but text messages were ignored and phone calls were not returned.
Meanwhile, Minister Bharrat on September 16 told this publication that the EPA issued a press statement on the matter and that was ‘Government’s position.’ When the Minister was asked to share a copy of that statement with this newspaper, he too never responded.
In the meantime, former head of the EPA, Dr. Vincent Adams said this occurrence shows how grossly underprepared Guyana is for petroleum production even as it embarks on an ambitious campaign to speed up these operations.
In an invited comment, Dr. Adams, a Petroleum Engineer explained that the agency’s failure to make a pronouncement on the spill days later paints a gloomy picture of what the nation can expect should a spill of greater scale occur. Nonetheless, he said, “It’s not about the size of a spill it’s just the culture. It reflects on the conduct of operations and the safety culture, and if you miss on the small things that’s how you get all of these major spills and disasters. All of them that we’ve had in the world they occurred because of missing just simple things.”
When he was asked if he believes that the investigations should have been completed by now, Dr. Adams responded in the affirmative. In fact, he argued, “The very next day or as soon as possible, you have to send a team out there. It’s of high urgency and to me, if it is what they say it is, it shouldn’t be complicated so that shouldn’t be taking any time…all it takes is a single day’s visit on the FPSO. You conduct your interviews with all the employees and you make your assessment. Based on what they tell you then you come up and confirm whether it’s one barrel or whether it’s 100.”
The former EPA head believes that Guyana is in fact telling Exxon that it is not serious about oil spills and being accountable to the people by failing to provide its own report.
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