Opposition, EPA silent on Exxon’s increased flaring

Feb 01, 2021 News

– Dr. Adams says oil giant must explain why equipment failure only occurring in Guyana

By Mikaila Prince

Kaieteur News – It has been three days since ExxonMobil – an oil giant which touts the effective management of its waste – had announced increased flaring at its Liza Destiny operations. Within those three days, Guyana has seen statements condemning the flaring from the bodies like the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an international lawyer, a conservationist, oil and gas groups, and even industry experts.

Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon

But when it comes to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – the regulator of Guyana’s environment – and the major political opposition, the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), Guyanese have only heard a deafening silence.
When contrasted to January 2020, the first instance of Exxon flaring, the EPA under the stewardship of Dr. Vincent Adams was quick to report the oil giant’s burning of natural gas. At that time, Dr. Adams had revealed to Kaieteur News, and was later confirmed by ExxonMobil, that the flaring was as a result of a defective gas compressor.
As a means of cracking down on the flaring, albeit five months later, the EPA had slashed Exxon’s production by 60%, which meant that it could only produce a maximum of 30,000 barrels of oil per day.
Fast forward to December 2020 when Exxon announced that it had repaired its defective gas compressor, which meant that it had ceased all routine flaring. But by then, severe damage had already been done to the environment, as 12.4 billion cubic feet of toxic gas, which contained cancer-causing agents, had been released into the atmosphere.
Then on Friday last, the US oil giant announced that their compressor had malfunctioned again, and as a safety mechanism, increased flaring from pilot levels.
Since then, Guyana has heard nothing from the current Director of the EPA, Sharifah Razack on the flaring. Checks were made on the EPA’s website and Facebook page, but nothing on the increased flaring had been issued. Kaieteur News had even reached out to Razack for a comment on same since Friday, but up to press time, this publication received no response.
This silence is the same plight Guyanese are faced with when it comes to the APNU+AFC. In fact, no written statement or address has been issued by the coalition, its members or the Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon.

Former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams

Rather, the only recent occasion when the public heard any addresses from the APNU+AFC was during last week’s parliamentary session, where it fought valiantly to amend the Marijuana Bill. That Bill, after four hours of debating, was eventually thrown out.
Notwithstanding this silence, Dr. Vincent Adams, former Head of the EPA, recently told Kaieteur News that Exxon should explain why this type of equipment failure is only occurring in Guyana, when this country is not host to its first operation or experience in the oil industry.
He went on to state that these types of disruptions are easily avoidable and cannot be blamed on the manufacturer, especially when it comes to brand new equipment. He reminded that Exxon is aware that it owns the responsibility to ensure manufacturing is done in full accord with the design specifications, through a rigorous Quality Assurance/Quality Control Plan, which it has to oversee.
The EPA had emphasized requirement to Exxon several times, Dr. Adams recalled, even though this should have been second nature for a company of this stature.
“They cannot wait until the equipment arrives to figure out that the wires are aligned incorrectly, or the seals are made of the wrong material, when they have done this numerous times before. Why is Guyana different?!” Dr Adams admonished.
In light of the foregoing, the former EPA Head indicated that the Government must decide whether Exxon’s performance to date, merits its trust to protect the health, environment and wellbeing of the Guyanese people.
“And let me add that just a slap on the wrist [will be the fine for] for the excess flaring. This is a joke, because this will only be a minuscule cost [when compared to] their business [earnings].”
Dr. Adams indicated that it is his hope that this unfortunate event will again highlight the urgency for the government to provide the resources to properly equip the EPA with the necessary capacity for the oversight of these operations, including 24/7 on site presence and investment in training and recruitment of specialized requisite skills. Kaieteur News understands that these are already incorporated into a plan developed between the EPA, Department of Energy (DoE) and the World Bank.
He further indicated that he also holds optimism that the government will ensure that the design flaws in the Liza Destiny permit and FPSO are not present in the Liza Two and Payara developments.