Capping stack for oil spills not enough - AFC

Capping stack for oil spills not enough – AFC

May 04, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

…says monitoring of operations and other safeguards critical

Kaieteur News – A new provision included in ExxonMobil’s Yellowtail and Uaru Permits, for the fourth and fifth projects respectively, allows for a capping stack to be on standby in the event of a well blowout during oil production activities.

Capping stack

This measure is usually touted by government as a major improvement on the regulatory aspect, but the Alliance For Change (AFC) believes this tool is not enough.

During a recent engagement with the press, former General Secretary of the party, David Patterson explained, “A capping stack is like a cork. You plug on to your wine bottle or if you get a leak on your water pipe you put a blank on it to stop the leak, that is what is a capping stack. It does not prevent a leak (from happening) so basically what the government is touting and trying to get us happy (about) is if there is a leak, their response time because the capping stack is closer to Guyana as opposed to Trinidad that they will get this cork to plug the leak quicker.”

Patterson, the Shadow Minister of Natural Resources in Parliament said this should bring no comfort to the Guyanese population as there is still much to be done regarding oil spills. For instance, he believes there should be monitoring of the operations by locals to avoid such a disastrous event from ever occurring. “We believe prevention is better than cure,” he noted while pointing out that this device will not be a cure in this instance.

The former Minister pointed out that the Liza one project is currently producing about 120,000 barrels of oil per day while the capping stack is expected to be deployed within nine days. “Therefore, we should have no comfort in that. Our safeguards, our mechanisms, our insurance should always be in place. They are primary focus,” Patterson urged.

Leader of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan also argued that the United States have both a parent company guarantee to cover costs associated with a spill and a capping stack to aid in responding to the situation. As such he said this mechanism should be mirrored in Guyana, especially since the country is “worse off” than the North American nation. He was referring to the profits garnered from the deal, as compared to the US. In fact, Ramjattan noted, “Jagdeo said he is gonna renegotiate the contract, well indeed he has renegotiated the contract to even a more rotten contract from what we did.”

On November 9 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued its fourth Permit to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) – ExxonMobil Guyana- to conduct production activities at the Yellowtail development. The Permit, for the first time, required that a capping stack be procured and stored in country to be used in the event of a spill. A capping stack is used to cap a blown-out well. It is a heavy piece of equipment that was engineered subsequent to one of the world’s most devastating spills in the Gulf of Mexico; where a blown out well continued releasing oil into the ocean for 87 days. This tool is used to stop or redirect the flow of hydrocarbons, allowing engineers to permanently seal the well.

According to the Yellowtail Permit, Exxon will have up to nine days to ensure that the capping stack reaches the location, in such an unfortunate event. The Yellowtail project is expected to produce as much as 250,000 barrels of oil per day. The Permit at Section 9.14 explains “The Permit Holder shall maintain access to at least one (1) subscription service, in a location outside of Guyana, to allow mobilisation of a capping stack to the Yellowtail Project location within nine (9) calendar days or less of an uncontrolled well event.”

Similarly, the new Permit granted by the regulator for the oil giant’s fifth project- Uaru- also makes provision for the capping stack to be on site within nine days. This can be found at Section 9.13 of the document, which was signed on April 27, 2023. Exxon’s Uaru project is designed to produce 250,000 barrels per day on an annual average, according to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). It can however produce up to 263,000 barrels of oil a day. The Payara Permit- for Exxon’s third project- however required that the Capping Stack be deployed within three to four days – less than half the time now required at the other projects.

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AFC, Capping stack, enough, oil, spill

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