Deadline pushed back for study on Payara produced water

Jan 20, 2021 News

By Kemol King

The Prosperity FPSO hull (Photo: Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding)

Kaieteur News – Recent developments in the execution of ExxonMobil’s Payara production licence indicate that the company has been given more time to conduct a study and report to the government of Guyana on the management of produced water from the Payara well, scheduled for first oil in 2024.
The government had announced on September 30 last year that it would require such a study, as the matter of dumping of produced water into the ocean was being ventilated in the press.
In the petroleum industry, produced water is a byproduct of oil extraction. It comes up with the oil and gas during the production phase of a development. It tends to be high in salinity, rich in minerals, and very hot.
The effect of dumping the substance in Guyana’s oceans is unknown, and ExxonMobil is content to do so in the absence of studies. However, due to sustained criticisms, the government has determined such studies to be necessary, moving forward.
Recent enquiries by this newspaper with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate that ExxonMobil’s local subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) is expected to complete the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the study by the end of this month. EPA Director, Sharifah Razack informed Kaieteur News on Tuesday morning that ExxonMobil submitted an initial TOR to the EPA on October 22, 2020. This is in keeping with Article t (ii) of the Payara production licence which requires the company to submit the TOR within 30 days of the environmental permit, which was signed on September 24, 2020.
Razack said “The ToR was reviewed by the EPA which has since sent its comments to EEPGL for its address in an amended ToR; this shall be submitted to the EPA by the end of January, 2021.”
In its September 30, 2020 press release announcing the approval of the US$9 billion Payara project, the Ministry of Natural Resources had said that it would oversee the conduction of the study on produced water to be completed by the first quarter.
“EEPGL will carry out a study overseen by the Minister of Natural Resources,” reads an excerpt from the statement, “to be completed by the first quarter of 2021 to examine the safe and efficient reinjection of produced water, including the effects on the reservoir. This is in keeping with government’s commitment to preserve marine life and water quality.”
This deadline would have been in effect, had ExxonMobil’s TOR been approved by the end of October 2020, as the Article t (ii) b. production licence gives the company 180 days to produce the study’s final report, with a draft final report due 30 days before the deadline.
Since ExxonMobil’s TOR for the study has not been finalised three months past the initial deadline for its submission to the EPA, a first quarter deadline of March is extended into the third quarter of the year.
Kaieteur News notes that the findings of this study would not be applicable to the Liza Phase One and Two projects, for which ExxonMobil has been permitted to dump up to 400,000 barrels of produced water.
Liza Phase One is already dumping thousands of barrels of toxic water in the ocean every day. Liza Phase Two is scheduled for first oil next year. The administration has not indicated any plans to have studies conducted to determine the best mode of management of produced water at these two projects.

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