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Exxon paid EPA GYD$5.6M for flaring in 2023
…4.3 Trillion cubic feet of gas burned
President, ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge (Exxon paid EPA GYD$5.6M for flaring in 2023)
Kaieteur News- ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) in 2023 handed over $5.6M in flaring fees to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This was revealed by President of EMGL, Alistair Routledge during the company’s third quarter media conference. The company is required to pay US $50 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) emitted as a result of flaring in excess of the periods outlined in the environmental permits for the three projects currently in operation.
According to Routledge, the company flared an average 12 million cubic feet of gas per day in 2023. This means that the gas flared in 2023 amounted to 4.3 trillion cubic feet or 430M tonnes of gas. He said, “About half of that related to the Payara project startup. As you may recall the first 60 days when we are commissioning equipment, all of the gas compression facilities and everything, we are required from a safety point of view just to flare gas through that period.”
The Country Manager boasted that outside of the periods outlined in the Permits for flaring, Exxon recorded “really excellent performance”.
According to him, “First of all with Payara itself actually achieving background flare much faster than the 60 days- I recall it was 37 days and on the other assets, on Liza Phase One and Phase Two they average 6 million total across the two assets for the full year and that takes account of unplanned shutdown activity, safety events, but also plant shut down activities where we know we need to take down the facilities and safely flare the pressure gas in the system.”
While responding to a question from this newspaper, Routledge revealed that there was one day in 2023 where the company exceeded the flaring requirements. On that occasion, he said a fine of US$27,000 or approximately $5.6M was paid to the regulator.
In the previous year, Exxon paid US$9M in fines to the EPA for its excessive gas flaring. During that period, the oil giant encountered mechanical difficulties with its gas compressor on the Liza Destiny Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
Flaring, as the word suggests, is the process of burning associated gas that is brought up during oil production. Notably, this process emits harmful gases into the atmosphere that can, not only affect seabirds and marine creatures, but also climate change.
(Exxon paid EPA GYD$5.6M for flaring in 2023)
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