Exxon cannot survive without Guyana

May 20, 2021 News

…we need to understand that, use it as leverage — Dr. Adams

“…here is the other thing that Guyanese people need to understand, Exxon [Mobil] cannot survive without Guyana and we need to understand that and use that as our leverage, rather than having them taking advantage of us”—Dr. Vincent Adams

By Gary Eleazar

“They have been flaring for two years now and we are accommodating them, bending over backwards and rewriting the permit now,” said Dr. Vincent Adams.

Kaieteur News – Former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams, is of the view that US oil major, ExxonMobil, cannot survive without its operations in Guyana and as such, “it angers me, to see how they think they can take us for fools.”

With this in mind, Dr. Adams suggests, Guyana uses its strategic position in relation to ExxonMobil and use that as leverage, “rather than having them take advantage of us.”

He gave these assertions during an online discussion on Saturday last that centered on the Guyana’s emerging Oil and Gas sector and the concomitant ripple effects in the country and lamented the way the US oil major has been conducting business in Guyana — bypassing laws — with the seeming consent of the Guyana Government.

He told stakeholders, “they have no interest in our health, safety and environment and then they have got these big talks that they are going to take their business someplace, well go take your business someplace.”

Seeking to place the Guyana’s ExxonMobil-led operations in the Stabroek Block, in the context of its international portfolio, Dr. Adams suggested that, “here is the other thing that Guyanese people need to understand, Exxon [Mobil] cannot survive without Guyana and we need to understand that and use that as our leverage, rather than having them taking advantage of us.”

Lamenting “every time they (ExxonMobil) say jump, we say how high,” Dr. Adams in his discussion was quick to point out, “they (ExxonMobil) can’t do those types of things in other countries such as the US; it’s the total reverse [there].”

Speaking to the need for the respect of the rule of law in country with regards to the way business is conducted and development is pursued, Dr. Adams pointed out that an ordinary citizen being pulled over for a traffic offence would be penalised.

Former EPA Director, Dr. Vincent Adams

That person, he said, would have to go to court and pay a fine. “The ordinary citizen, they could hardly even afford it but then we got Exxon [Mobil], they turn their noses on the law and we just say you are Exxon, ok, and you let them go; that’s my major concern.”

Dr. Adams was at the time bemoaning the flaring concerns and other infractions of the law by ExxonMobil, which he suggests is now being accommodated by Government even as he pointed to the recently amended Liza I Permit.

The EPA last week Monday amended the Liza I Permit for the operations in the Stabroek Block, led by ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL), to impose fines for flaring.

Dr. Adams said the new provision in fact legalises a 14 billion cubic feet flaring cap to essentially allow the company to not pay any fines retroactively.

This development, since the 60-day grace period given to ExxonMobil to allow for permissible flaring under emergencies and such other circumstances, is also tantamount to giving the company permission to flare.

“They (ExxonMobil) were on record that flaring would be stopped from day one,” he recalled and observed that the company “put in the equipment and it’s not working, and they have been flaring for two years now and we are accommodating them, bending over backwards and rewriting the permit now.”

Adamant in his lamentations over the EPA’s decision to, “give them 60 days of flaring, when international standards such as in the US, only gives two days – 48 hours,” Dr. Adams reiterated, “we giving them 60 days.”

According to Dr. Adams, “…here is the con in all of this, or the shiny object to distract from what they are doing, from the violation of law, now we are going to charge them US$30 for every tonne of carbon equivalent over and above the 60 days, that 60 days.”

According to Dr. Adams, “if Exxon can’t stop flaring within 60 days something is wrong, [and] they probably don’t need to be operating, to be quite honest.”

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