Oil spill at 6th oil project potentially puts Region at risk - EIA

Oil spill at 6th oil project potentially puts Region at risk – EIA

Apr 14, 2024 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

…up to 40% chance of impacting Guyana’s shores directly

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted for the recently approved Whiptail Development Project (6th oil project) shows that there is a 10 to 40 percent probability that should there be a large oil spill, the spill could reach the Coast of Guyana (Regions 1 and 2) depending on the oceanographic conditions at the time of the spill and the time of the year.

“This modeling also indicated that a mitigated and unmitigated spill could reach the coastline of Trinidad and Tobago and an unmitigated spill could reach the coastlines of Venezuela, the Lesser Antilles, and the Greater Antilles,” ExxonMobil said in its EIA that was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval.

According to the Exxon submitted and EPA approved EIA, “if such an improbable event were to happen, the environmental and socioeconomic impacts could include impacts on marine mammals through ingestion or inhalation of oil; intergenerational impacts on marine turtles through oiling of nesting beaches; systemic ecological and food-web impacts on marine and coastal ecosystems; and impacts on air quality, marine birds, marine fish, and marine benthos.”

Additionally, key socioeconomic impacts could include health impacts on individuals exposed to oil and impacts on fisherfolk livelihoods driven by the impact on marine fish and the planned Project activities would not cause irreversible damage to any onshore areas of Guyana.

The EIA also states that, “even in the unlikely event of a large marine oil spill, little irreversible damage would be expected, although it could take a decade or more for all resources to fully recover, depending on the volume and duration of the release, as well as the time of year. If authorized, the Project will be EMGL’s sixth FPSO development in the Stabroek Block.”

Meanwhile, as it relates to the environmental challenges the EIA for the project notes that while Guyana’s waste management infrastructure capacity is expected to be sufficient to support Project operations in the short term (up to 4 years) ongoing coordination with the government and waste management providers is necessary to ensure long-term waste management needs are met.

The document highlights that potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts could also occur during unplanned events such as a hydrocarbon spill (marine oil spill, coastal fuel spill, or non-aqueous drilling fluid release), vessel collision, discharge of untreated wastewater from the FPSO, vehicle collision, or collision between marine animals and a Project component (vessel, flare, or helicopter) but insists, “these events are considered unlikely to occur.”

ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) filed an Application for Environmental Authorization with the Guyana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on 15 December 2022, for the Whiptail Development Project.

The EPA, with the guidance of the Environmental Advisory Board, has the responsibility of granting or denying authorization and determining any conditions under which to grant authorization. On review of EMGL’s Application, the EPA determined that an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required.

The purpose of the EIA is to present the necessary information on, and analysis of, potential and predicted impacts that EMGL’s proposed Project may have if it were to be implemented, to enable the EPA to make an informed decision on EMGL’s Application.

Development, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region, unmitigated

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