Yellowtail project can inflict permanent damage to marine habitat

Mar 22, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – ExxonMobil’s fourth project, the Yellowtail development situated in the Stabroek Block, can result in permanent damage to the environment in which marine species dwell, which can cause them to migrate from Guyana’s waters.
This is highlighted in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) prepared by Exxon’s Consultant, the Environmental Resources Management (ERM).
According to the document seen by Kaieteur News, the project may result in permanent loss of benthic habitat offshore, stemming from the installation of equipment, among others, to support the company’s operations.
Benthic habitat refers to the ecosystem or place of dwelling for species on the seafloor or at the bottom of a body of water.
In Guyana, our most popular benthic creatures are shrimp and crab. Other crustaceans and seaweeds that are valuable to the food chain may also be permanently disrupted, ERM warned in the Yellowtail EIA.
Section 3.5 of the document explains, “There would be a very minor (approximately 0.7 km2 [0.3 mi2]) permanent loss of benthic habitat offshore as a result of the installation of wells, flowlines, and other subsea equipment, which may be proposed to be left in place upon decommissioning.”
The text goes on to note that the equipment, which may be left on the seafloor, can ultimately provide the substrate for recolonisation of the impacted areas.
Production of some 250,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) is scheduled to commence in late 2025 or early 2026, with operations continuing for at least 20 years.
The Project is located approximately 203 kilometres (approximately 126 miles) northeast of the coastline of Georgetown in waters approximately 1,700 to 1,900 metres (5,577 to 6,234 feet) deep. The project will develop the offshore resource by drilling approximately 41 to 67 development wells, including production, water injection, and gas re-injection wells, and using a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel to process, store, and offload the recovered oil.
A report by an independent organisation, Frontiers in Environmental Science published back in 2016 highlighted the detrimental environmental effects, routine oil and gas activities can have during exploration, production and decommissioning.
The study titled, ‘Environmental Impacts of the Deep-Water Oil and Gas Industry: A Review to Guide Management Strategies’ was done in collaboration with 21 universities in the United States of America (USA), Canada, South Africa, Portugal and others.
The document explained, “During the exploration phase, impacts can result from indirect (sound and traffic) and direct physical (anchor chains, drill cuttings, and drilling fluids) disturbance. Additional direct physical impacts occur in the production phase as pipelines are laid and the volume of discharged produced water increases. Lastly, decommissioning can result in a series of direct impacts on the sea floor and can re-introduce contaminants to the environment.”
Locally, fishermen have been complaining bitterly of low catches which they attributed to ExxonMobil’s operations. To this end, the Ministry of Agriculture recently commenced a study, to better understand the situation.
Further, the government has been making strides to limit fishermen’s dependency on the natural habitats for fishing activities.
For instance, this newspaper reported that 74 ponds are being developed along the Corentyne coast from the Berbice River Bridge to Number 49 Village, in Region Six, to aid in the rearing of brackish water shrimp. According to Wikipedia, ‘brackish water’, also sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment having more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. Salt water is the ideal environment for the rearing of shrimp.
This venture is costing the administration $58 million.
In addition, President Irfaan Ali has also signalled the government’s intent to grow fish in cages. In fact, $200 million has been set aside in this year’s national budget to fund the initiative, which is still in trial around the world.
Making the announcement was the Senior Minister in the Office of the President, with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, during the recent reading of the budget. He told the National Assembly that a total of $743.7 million has been set aside this year, for the development of the fisheries and aquaculture subsector.
Of this amount, “Budget 2022 provides a sum of $200 million to introduce and develop marine cage fishing which will enhance the production of prawns and tilapia. This will provide an important alternative production modality for Guyana’s fisherfolk. Additionally, government will continue to improve the supportive infrastructure for the fisheries industry,” the finance minister said.

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