Oil spill bill for Parliament Monday

Apr 24, 2025 News

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…citizens would have to take companies to court for redress in event of an oil spill

Kaieteur News-  After months of delay, government said it will finally table the Oil Pollution, Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Responsibility Bill 2025 in the National Assembly next Monday.

The bill establishes a modern and comprehensive legal framework to prevent oil spills, enhance national preparedness, ensure timely and effective response, and hold responsible parties accountable for damages caused, the Department of Public Information (DPI) reported.  The proposed legislation, referred to as the ‘Oil Spill’ Bill, was outlined by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, during his weekly programme ‘Issues in the News’ on Tuesday evening.

With the expansion of Guyana’s oil and gas industry, a strong legislative system is needed to protect the environment and ensure everyone involved in petroleum activities operates safely, DPI said. “This bill ensures that every person and or entity involved in any petroleum activities, including drilling, exploring, producing, storing, handling, transportation of petroleum products, oil and gas, et cetera, shall be held to the highest standards of operational safety and environmental responsibility.” “The bill also enshrines liability for those who may be responsible for any form of oil spilling or any negligent oil operations that lead to damages of any kind,” he explained.

The bill specifically protects the right of ordinary people or communities to take these companies to the High Court if their property, livelihoods, or the environment they depend on is harmed. The bill was crafted in keeping with international standards for the petroleum industry, reflecting its modernness and effectiveness. “You will recall that it took quite a while in preparation and that’s because of its complex nature and because of the care that had to be exercised when treating with this bill. Once the bill is laid in the National Assembly…it would be circulated widely,” Minister Nandlall noted.  

Back in December last year, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had expressed optimism about the bill being tabled, despite telling reporters at one of his weekly press conferences that the Attorney General’s Chambers had been “very delinquent” in completing the final draft of the legislation. “I’ve been pressing them… they’ve been very delinquent at this but I’ve been pressing them to get this done, because we made certain commitments that we want this tabled before the end of the year,” Jagdeo had said.

While providing updates on the oil and gas sector and plans for the new year, Jagdeo explained that the AG’s office has had some challenges.

The Oil Spill Act is aimed at ensuring that the country is protected during the transportation of crude oil. Jagdeo, in the past, had said that the legislation, once in place, would cover Guyana from “all sorts of liabilities.” The Bill will not only cover oil spills in the exploration and production area offshore, but it will also cover the transportation of petroleum products and petrol and food as well. “So if there’s any mishap, boat accidents that we have seen in some countries, it means that we’ll be covered here too, and it will speak to clean up, it will speak to compensation, it will speak to restoration, which are critical areas in dealing with (the sector),” Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat had told a news conference last year. The minister said back then that the government was satisfied with the level of safety, the level of precaution and the operation of the operator offshore and their operations.

Concerns over protection

There have been growing concerns over what stakeholders say is the inadequate protection for citizens and neighbouring countries should an oil spill occur offshore. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in a column back in 2023, had pointed out that the islands located within the path of a potential oil spill from the Guyana project produce more than US$140 billion of economic activity annually, largely based on the maritime and tourism sectors. International Financial Analyst Tom Sanzillo explained that these countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago, by virtue of the source of such revenues cited, face financial risks from an oil spill in Guyana. Currently, the operator of the Stabroek Block is producing approximately 645,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) at three Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels. Notably, the vessels are all producing above nameplate capacity, sparking safety concerns about the operations. ExxonMobil and partners have since lodged a US$2 billion oil spill guarantee to provide additional resources to cleanup and compensate if its limited US$600 million insurance fails to satisfy those demands.

This newspaper recently reported that an oil spill in the Stabroek Block could hit parts of Guyana’s shorelines before the much-talked-about capping stack arrives at the blown-out well to plug the leak. According to information publicly available and recently confirmed by an ExxonMobil team, the 93,000-pound piece of equipment will take “several days” to arrive at its destination. Permits issued to date by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that Exxon has up to nine days to ensure the capping stack is deployed.

The renewed Liza One Permit states at Section 9.13, “The Permit Holder shall maintain access to at least one (1) subscription service, in a location outside of Guyana, to allow mobilization of a Capping Stack to the Liza Phase 1 Project location within nine (9) calendar days or less of an uncontrolled well event.” A similar provision is included in the five other projects approved to date by the regulator. Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) conducted by Exxon’s consultant indicate, however, that an oil spill could hit the shores of this country before the capping stack arrives at a blown-out well. Notably, this heavy piece of equipment is used to stop or redirect the flow of hydrocarbons, allowing engineers to permanently seal the well. Oil spill modeling, according to Exxon’s most recent EIA conducted for its seventh project, the Hammerhead development, states that an oil spill could hit Region One in as little as a day, depending on the time of the year the event occurs. The study said modeling predicted that surface oil would generally travel toward the northwest in all scenarios during both modeled seasons -June through November, and December through May.

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