Rigid Oil Spill Response Plan tied to Liza Phase Two Permit

May 04, 2019 News

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By Kiana Wilburg
The approval that was granted by the relevant authorities for ExxonMobil and its partners to move ahead with the Liza Phase Two Development was tied to a number of conditions, says Head of the Energy Department, Dr. Mark Bynoe.

During a press conference that was held at the Ministry of the Presidency yesterday, the official disclosed that one of the conditions states that a study would be done to examine the possible quantity of oil that could contaminate Guyana’s waters in the event of an oil spill. He said that this study would then be used to inform a rigid oil spill response plan.
Dr. Bynoe said, “The approval is subject to a number of conditions and confirmatory studies. Some of the more important conditions relate to the establishment of a Regional Capping Stack or other solution to ensure that a Capping Stack can be deployed within five days of a well control event with loss of containment.”
He added that ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), which is the lead operator on the Stabroek Block, shall follow the required practice in the US Gulf of Mexico in calculating “Worst Case Discharge.”
It will also be required to validate the assumptions and calculations by obtaining an independent assessment. That assessment would develop an estimate of the flow that would result from an open hole well control event with loss of containment. Dr. Bynoe said that this independent assessment will then be used as the basis for the Oil Spill Response Plan and oil spill modeling.
Further to this, the Energy Department Head said that approval was also tied to some cost saving conditions.
In this regard, he said that ExxonMobil is expected to improve the targeted availability of the overall production system of the Liza Phase Two FPSO to between 98% and 99%; identify potential cost effective synergies between Liza Phase One and Lisa Phase Two and for the Stabroek Block operator to conduct Annual Third-Party Auditing on its drilling operations that would be consistent with Good International Oil Field Practice (GIOFP) and its own Operations Integrity Management System (OIMS).
Dr. Bynoe said, too, that the Stabroek partners agreed to enter into a Decommissioning Security Agreement.
LIZA PHASE TWO
According to EPA documents, oil production from the Liza Phase Two Development is expected to last at least 20 years. EEPGL will drill approximately 35-40 wells offshore to support extraction of the oil from below the sea floor. Each well will be drilled to a depth, which is over 5,000 metres (m) below the sea floor. EEPGL will then install some of the oil production facilities on the sea floor at approximately 1500-1900 m (4900-6200 ft) water depth. These subsea facilities include various types of pipes and hardware. The subsea facilities allow the oil from the wells to be gathered and moved to the surface of the ocean for further processing.
Kaieteur News understands that EEPGL will install other oil production facilities on a vessel, which floats on the surface of the ocean. The vessel is called a Floating Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO). The FPSO will be moored on location in approximately 1,600m (5250 ft) of water depth and will remain on location throughout the life of the facility.
Further to this, oil production facilities on the FPSO will further process the oil extracted from below the sea floor. The FPSO will have the capacity to produce approximately 190,000 to 220,000 barrels of oil per day. During the early stage of production operations, the FPSO is anticipated to produce an average of approximately 5,700,000 to 6,600,000 barrels of crude oil per month.
At peak, EPA documents note that EEPGL will utilize approximately 1,200 personnel offshore during the stage where the wells are being drilled and the offshore oil production facilities are being installed. Kaieteur News understands that this number will decrease to less than 200 personnel during the production operations phase. A smaller number of personnel will then be utilized at the onshore support facilities.
KEY DIFFERENCES
According to reports perused by this newspaper, there are some key differences between the Liza Phase Two Development and the Liza Phase One Development.
In the area of Oil Production Rates, the Phase Two production rate will be approximately 190,000 to 220,000 barrels of oil per day while Phase One’s production rate is 100,000 barrels of oil per day with the ability to operate at sustained peaks of 120,000 barrels per day.
With respect to FPSO Oil Storage Volume, Phase Two storage volume will be approximately 1.6 to 2 million barrels, depending on the hull selected. Phase One storage volume is 1.6 million barrels.
In terms of the number of wells, Phase Two will have approximately 35-40 wells. Phase One has 17 wells.
POSSIBLE EFFECTS
The reports held by the EPA notes that the Liza Phase Two project comes with a fair number of possible effects on people, wildlife and the environment.
The effects include changes in quality of air; disturbance of seabed; changes in quality of ocean water; impacts to whales, dolphins, sea turtles, fish, birds and protected species; changes in food sources for fish and wildlife; restriction on fishing around drill ships (temporary) and FPSOs; and oil spills, which could impact the environment (e.g. coastline, protected areas), indigenous communities, and the livelihoods of farmers and fishermen.

 

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