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Exxon cannot be operating at maximum and flaring under maintenance – Dr. Adams
Former EPA Director, Dr. Vincent Adams.
Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil Guyana’s claim that its increase in flaring at its Liza Phase One project falls under the category of maintenance and repairs should be deemed “nonsense” says Dr. Vincent Adams, former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Dr. Adams’ position emerges in light of the fact that the US super major continues to operate at the maximum capacity, producing 120,000 barrels of oil while flaring 16 million cubic feet of gas daily on the Liza Destiny vessel despite its gas compressor malfunction.
The Former EPA Head made those comments and more on Tuesday’s edition of Kaieteur Radio’s – Governance, Corruption and Justice hosted by Senior Journalist, Kiana Wilburg.
There, Dr. Adams sought to respond to ExxonMobil-Guyana’s President’ Allister Routledge’s continued insistence that the oil company’s increase in flaring is not illegal and falls within the purview of the Permit.
For reference, Section 3.6 of the Liza Permit outlines that, “Routine Flaring and Venting are prohibited on the FPSO (excludes tank flashing emission, standing/working/breathing losses.) Routine flaring does not include flaring related to the FPSO startup, emergencies/process upsets and maintenance events.”
It is under this latter bracket that ExxonMobil places its current increase in flaring.
However, the Former EPA Head stated forthright that ExxonMobil should not be flaring while simultaneously producing at maximum. This is why he is of the firm conviction that its latest “excuse” that the flaring falls under the maintenance and repairs scope should not be accepted.
“This is even worse because they are operating at the safe maximum production rate that is allowed by the EIA. They are operating at maximum and saying this is under maintenance,” he outlined.
Dr. Adams then asked, “Now, who with common sense would put in the permit that you cannot flare during routine or normal operations but now you going to come tell me you can flare under maintenance? So you are telling what the permit saying is nonsense because that was never the intent of the permit.”
Further on, he outlined as well that Exxon’s breach of the permit extends to it not having spare parts aboard the Liza Destiny vessel.
Section 3.13 says that Exxon should have spare equipment on hand to cater for any event of equipment malfunctions. However, the company was forced to send the malfunctioned gas compressor to Germany back to the manufacturer for repairs.
Dr. Adams, who is also an expert in environmental engineering informed that since this was not the first occasion that ExxonMobil experienced equipment malfunctions, it would only be practical to have spare parts readily available in the event of a mishap.
He went on to say, “Anybody with any sense would say that it is a critical piece of equipment that you would need to keep spares for.”
The company had stated at its last press update on March 5 that following successful mechanical repairs and tests, its deflective flash gas compressor was now repaired fully and is set to return to Guyana for installation by month’s end. This is in keeping with the eight weeks estimate provided by Exxon.
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