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ExxonMobil’s latest excuse on flaring is a gross insult to Guyanese – Dr. Adams
Former EPA Director, Dr. Vincent Adam
Kaieteur News – It is public knowledge that when ExxonMobil initially encountered technical issues with its gas compressor at the Liza Destiny vessel, Dr. Vincent Adams, former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), had taken the decision to slash the oil giant’s production to curtail the ensuing environmental damage.
Dr. Adams had cut production low enough so that Exxon was only able to flare 12-15 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. But this time around, the company is flaring 16 million cubic feet daily while production remains at 120,000 barrels per day.
Exxon’s justification for this was a need for revenues in Guyana. President of its local headquarters, Alistair Routledge, had said this much at the company’s last press engagement.
ExxonMobil’s Guyana President, Alistair Routledge
He had said, “None of us are happy to be flaring above the pilot (level). But we all know the times that we live in. It’s challenging times. COVID-19 has shut down a lot of businesses, revenues for the country, and so it’s important that we can do our part to contribute.”
Routledge added, “We’re just trying to find the right balance for Guyana that ensures that we’re still generating revenues for the country while minimizing the amount of impact that comes with that. And so, you know, that’s the balance that we struck at the moment.”
Taking this into consideration, Dr. Adams emphatically stated that Routledge’s pronouncement should anger all of Guyana as it adds to the list of excuses the company belts out to validate its continued environmental damage.
“The newest excuse is that Guyana really needs this money, things really bad because we had this COVID so this money is coming to Guyana,” Dr. Adams lamented. “It is so phony and insulting and condescending that Exxon wants this production to be up so badly so that it can make money.”
While he noted that Guyana welcomes Exxon and its contributions to the country’s novel oil sector, it must ensure that it operates within the law and most importantly ensuring the preservation and safety of the environment.
With that, Dr. Adams continued, “It is absolute eye pass for them to be saying that Guyana really…we deh bad basically and we need this money. It is eye pass and on top of that, they are violating the cardinal rule of not compromising the health safety of the environment for production.”
That rule, the former EPA Director pointed out, is one that is recognized internationally and is something that cannot be defied; however Exxon continues to disrespect Guyana.
Exxon recently came under fire from shareholders for not being good stewards of the environment and pledged to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. But at the same time, Dr. Adams noted, the company is offering excuses to flare in Guyana.
“Exxon is spreading all of this nonsense and the apparent concern is that we are getting caught up in it and believing it… With all of these mixed messages and misinformation and their belligerence in wanting to ignore and disrespect the laws of Guyana, we have got to hold them accountable,” Dr. Adams concluded.
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