Exxon confident in getting away with flaring in 2021 – Environmentalist

Jan 31, 2021 News

Flaring at the Liza Destiny FPSO

Environmentalist, Annette Arjoon-Martins.

Kaieteur News – The fact that ExxonMobil has not seen it fit to replace the malfunctioning gas compression equipment at its Liza Phase One project displays the oil giant’s blatant lack of concern for Guyana’s environment and its sheer confidence that it can get away with flaring in 2021.
That was the opinion proffered by staunch Environmentalist and President of the Guyana Marine Conservation Society, Annette Arjoon-Martins in response to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) announcement that flaring at the Liza Destiny FPSO will increase above pilot levels after a technical issue with the ship’s gas compressor was encountered.
That same gas compressor was purportedly fixed last December after malfunctioning for months, resulting in over one billion cubic feet of gas being flared along with the release of toxic chemicals.
The company was only meant to briefly flare gas at project start-up in late December 2019 to test and fully commission the gas compression and injection systems at the site; however, it ended up flaring gas way longer than expected, for more than a year in fact.
In an invited comment, Arjoon-Martins relayed that she was not surprised at the announcement, as she received images of flaring at the FPSO for most of January.
Expounding further, she stated “When I posted one of flaring on the 13th January, 2021, Exxon’s PR in their usual doublespeak owned up to two hours of flaring on that day due to ‘an unexpected temporary outage on the vessel which was returned to normal operations less than two hours later’. They did not share which piece of equipment malfunctioned. They should state if it’s the same faulty gas compressor that took the entire 2020 to be finally ‘fixed’ in December 2020.”
This time, Exxon in their operations update informed that the technical issue is related to the seal on the gas compressor. It said that malfunction will cause a temporarily increase in flaring in order to maintain safe operations.
However, the Environmentalist pointed to Article 3.13 in the Liza One Environmental Permit, which makes it explicitly clear that the oil tycoon must have spare equipment available to cater for any sudden malfunctions.
The Article verbatim states, “Efforts should be made to prevent equipment breakdowns and plant upsets which could result in flaring and provisions should be made for equipment sparing and plant turn-down protocols where practical.”
But the provision is so ambiguous that it does not definitely state that company “must” have spare equipment on hand.
And taking into consideration that the last malfunction caused over 12 billion cubic feet of gas, Arjoon-Martins expressed alarm that the company has not moved to replace it.
Even more alarming, she noted too is the fact that the company is allowed to freely behave in such a manner during a climate emergency.
The environmentalist underscored that Exxon “needs to be held accountable” for their continued environmental pollution.
It is however unclear what reprimand the company would face as Guyana’s environmental watchdog; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been mum on Exxon’s recent update.