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Govt. exposing future generations to untold danger as ExxonMobil allowed to pay ‘next-to-nothing’ fines for flaring- Patterson
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana (GoG) often boasts of the fine ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) is subjected to for flaring of natural gas offshore Guyana. However Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, David Patterson believes this paltry fee—US$50 per metric tonne of flaring— does nothing to prevent future generations from being exposed to untold danger.
Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, David Patterson
As pointed out in his presentation during a debate in the National Assembly last Thursday, the oil company has been given the licence to flare as much gas as it requires and release harmful emissions into the environment, as long as the government is paid for the damage being done.
To this end, Patterson in defending a Motion on full liability coverage for petroleum related disasters argued, “He (Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat) makes a claim that they have introduced a fee for flaring and he says it as though it’s a good thing. Sir, you would allow someone to pollute your environment, cause untold damage- I explained all the toxins you find in the flaring of natural gas in a previous presentation- but here is what they are excited about, that they charge a paltry US$50 per metric tonne of flaring.”
As such, the Member of Parliament reasoned, “So what they are saying is that it’s quite okay that you can destroy our environment, condemn our future- because of course climate change is a big issue- they can condemn our future generations (expose them) to untold environmental hazards once he collects his paltry government fees. It’s quite okay for the companies to flare.”
Currently, the operator of the Stabroek Block, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL)- the subsidiary of ExxonMobil- is pumping oil from two projects within the Stabroek Block. Operations at the Liza One Field for example started up since December 2019. Soon after, the oil giant encountered issues with its gas compressor, leading to constant flaring since then.
It was only this week that Exxon announced it was finally able to bring an end to the gas compressor woes that plagued the Liza Destiny floating, production, storage and operating (FPSO) vessel.
Production Manager at ExxonMobil Guyana, Mike Ryan told members of the media fraternity on Tuesday that the Exxon team was able to successfully install a new compressor from Germany and was even open to sharing that over US$10M in flaring fees had been paid over to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
More importantly however, Ryan dodged all the questions relating to the total amount of gas flared while its equipment was down. The Production Manager would only repeat that the company maintained full compliance with the EPA’s permitted parametres for flaring which was between15-7 million cubic feet of gas per day.
At its second project site, the Liza Two operation in Stabroek Block- being manned by the Liza Unity FPSO- he said it has achieved background flare within a record 60 days. “We have also hit our capacity range of about 220,000 barrels of oil per day,” expressed the official.
Extensive research conducted by Kaieteur News shows that gas flaring contributes to climate change, which has serious implications for the human security and wellbeing globally. In fact, the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, outlined in one of its studies, that gas flaring is actually a major source of greenhouse gases, which accelerates global warming.
It was noted that flaring releases Carbon Dioxide and Methane, the two major greenhouse gases.
Furthermore, there have been over 250 identified toxins released from flaring including carcinogens such as benzopyrene, benzene, carbon disulphide (CS2), carbonyl sulphide (COS) and toluene; metals such as mercury, arsenic and chromium; sour gas with Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2); Nitrogen oxides (NOx); Carbon dioxide (CO2); and methane (CH4) which contributes to the greenhouse gases.
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