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Guyana gets one barrel of sewage for every barrel of oil pumped at Liza 1 – Melinda Janki
By Davina Bagot
Kaieteur News – Based on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) submitted by ExxonMobil Guyana for the Liza One operations in the Stabroek Block, the developer is allowed to dump as much as 4000 barrels of sewage each day in Guyana’s territorial waters.
Environmental Lawyer, Melinda Janki, who has been flagging the dangers associated with the offshore operations since its commencement in 2019, has explained that a careful analysis of the EIA unearths rather “nasty” findings.
This chart shows the amount of waste being discharged per day at the Liza One operation (Source: ExxonMobil Liza 1 EIA)
While appearing on a recent panel discussion aired by Globespan 24×7, the International Lawyer explained that not only is the oil company allowed to dump 4000 barrels of sewage each day, but it also raises the question as to where this excessive amount of waste is coming from. She said, “We have asked where is this sewage coming from (but) we don’t know. There are only a couple hundred people on board the Floating Production Storage and Offloading Vessel so clearly they are not producing 4,000 barrels of sewage.”
International Lawyer, Melinda Janki
In explaining the gross impact of the situation, Janki explained, “Four thousand barrels of sewage over the life of the project is 1.2 billion gallons of sewage. Now the Liza One has about 1.2 billion barrels of oil so roughly for every barrel of oil they take, Guyana is getting a gallon of sewage.”
The lawyer added, “I think that is the best description I can give you of this petroleum deal.”
Since the startup of oil production, Janki has been highlighting the environmental harm being done by the operator. Only recently this newspaper highlighted that she has called for ExxonMobil’s “dangerous” operations to be shut down, pending an independent international and credible investigation into their activities.
Janki explained, “There should be an independent international, credible investigation into those operations and it should only be restarted if it makes sense and it is at that point, in a discussion for restarting, that the people of this country can say well this is what we want instead.”
Former Chief Executive of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams, who was also a panelist on the programme, explained some of the current dangers associated with the oil production activities that currently risks the revenues garnered from the sector.
Dr. Adams firstly detailed that both the Liza One and Liza Two operations are producing crude without proof of full liability coverage, in violation of the permits granted. This means that should an oil spill occur, Guyana could be left to foot the costs above US$600 million, as this is the current insurance offered by the operator. Not only that, he said the Liza One safe operating limit, as outlined in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), is 120,000 barrels per day, but Exxon has increased production to about 150,000 barrels per day without following the procedure for changing the EIA.
So far, Janki has taken Exxon to court over matters relating to the safety of its operations. For instance, the lawyer has challenged the excessive burning of natural gas offshore Guyana by the oil company. More recently, she moved to the courts too to question the validity of the Liza One Environmental Permit renewal – arguing that insurance provisions were not complied with.
While these two matters are still before the courts, she was already successful in litigation against the oil company in 2020. Janki had moved to the court to reduce the oil company’s environmental permit from 20+ years to five, the correct time as prescribed by law.
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