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Guyana’s oil chief does not know leasing price for the capping stack
Vice President (VP), Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Chief Policymaker in the oil and gas sector here, Vice President, Bharrat said he does not know how much ExxonMobil is paying to lease one capping stack, which the company brought into Guyana recently.
Guyana now has one of the 13 capping stacks world-wide, and one of two in Latin America. The equipment is being leased from Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) by ExxonMobil. On Thursday, this publication asked the Chief Policy maker with oversight for the oil sector to provide the amount being paid to lease the equipment however he claimed that he was unaware of the price and therefore could not produce a figure. The reporter asked the VP: “Can you say at what price the capping stack is being leased?” Jagdeo responded: “The lease price?…I don’t know the price. I don’t know the price.”
It is concerning that both the government official and ExxonMobil’s Country Manager were unable to provide information on the cost of leasing the capping stack as transparency in the oil sector is crucial for accountability and public trust, especially when it comes to safety equipment. The same question of leasing price was posed to ExxonMobil Guyana’s Country Manager Alistair Routledge at the commissioning of the capping stack earlier this month and he too failed to provide a figure. Routledge explained, “I don’t have that number at hand but it’s a subscription service so what happens is (Oil Spill Response Limited) ORSL operates this, they maintain it, they keep it ready for deployment and then we pay a subscription fee, based on the wells we are drilling.”
A capping stack is a heavy piece of metal equipment that is placed over a blown out well. It acts as a plug, thereby preventing further flow of hydrocarbons (crude oil). The capping stack was designed and built by Trendsetter Engineering- a company that has been involved in the design and development of most of the capping stacks available.
The capping stack, now in country, measures 22 feet, three inches (height) and weighs 93,000 pounds (42 metric tonnes). The Air Freightable Capping Stack (AFCS) has a pressure rating of 15,000 pounds per square inch; a flow rate of zero to 330,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and depth rating of 12,500 feet (3,800 meters).
According to Exxon’s Country Manager, “For ExxonMobil, safety is our top priority. Day in and day out, our teams are laser focused on preventing an instance of any size from ever happening, however in the unlikely event an instance should occur, we have state-of-the-art response capabilities in country and the financial resources to meet any clean up requirements.” Routledge also noted that frequent oil spill exercises are often conducted at GYSBI. The capping stack will now play an integral part in those activities according to him. Further, he pointed out, “We are bringing the very highest of standards of facilities and equipment to Guyana, given the unique scale of the operation and the commitment and partnership we have with the people and country of Guyana.”
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